Florida deputies have been accused of punching and dragging a Black man from his car during a traffic stop in February after a video of the incident went viral and sparked a nationwide outrage, as civil rights lawyers condemned the sheriff’s department in Jacksonville, Florida.
The footage shows William McNeil Jr, 22, recording the video as he sat in the driver’s seat asking to speak to Jacksonville deputies’ supervisor after deputies pulled him over. He’s heard asking questions about why he was stopped when the authorities broke the glass of the window, punched him in the face and pulled him from the car and again punched him before pitting him to the ground.
New video has emerged as authorities in Jacksonville, Florida, say they are investigating a viral video showing deputies punching and beating William Anthony McNeil, Jr.,a 22-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop. https://t.co/mLFEyzBVeq pic.twitter.com/j3Kw9AYZRd
— ABC News (@ABC) July 22, 2025
Local media in the US reported about the video on Monday and Tuesday after McNeil posted the footage on social media. However, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters warned the public against “rushing to a judgement” as he said that there’s more to the story than the mobile phone video recorded by McNeil that went viral online. Waters said sheriffs asked McNeil several times to come out of his car.
Jacksonville police say officers did not violate criminal law during the violent traffic stop of William McNeil Jr. — despite disturbing footage showing him punched and dragged. An internal investigation is underway to determine if the officers violated department policy.
🎥:… pic.twitter.com/GIvUYLGCY1
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) July 22, 2025
Civil rights group Black Lives Matter and McNeil’s lawyers have said that the video suggests police brutality. “This should not have happened. But the police have never treated Black people like human beings,” Black Lives Matter said on X.
The State Attorney’s Office in Florida said that none of the deputies violated criminal law as Sheriff Waters told reporters that a review of the incident was ongoing. Informing about action taken against deputies, Waters said D. Bowers, the officer who broke the car window and punched McNeil, has been stripped of his law enforcement authority till the outcome of the review.
McNeil was arrested on February 19 and charged with resisting arrest, marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license, not wearing a seatbelt and not having headlights in bad weather, court records cited by ABC News showed.
(with inputs from Reuters, AP)
