JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man who was seen on video being punched by officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has hired civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump.
William McNeil Jr., 22, hired the attorneys after the Feb. 19 incident.
The now-viral video footage showed McNeil asking the officers why he was pulled over, and the officer replying that McNeil didn’t have his headlights on.
McNeil said to the officers that it was daylight and wasn’t raining, but the officer said, “It doesn’t matter.”
In the video, you can hear an officer, who is not on camera, asking McNeil to get out of the car. McNeil then asks to speak to a supervisor before another officer smashes the driver’s side window and punches McNeil in the face.
“It should be obvious to anyone watching this video that William McNeil wasn’t a threat to anyone,” said Crump. “He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights, and they beat him for it.”
“I am absolutely disgusted by the actions of these officers but, unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” said Daniels. “The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a long history of this kind of needless violence and brutality.”
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In a statement on the incident, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it had launched an investigation.
“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025. We have launched an internal investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding this incident. We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.”
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