William McNeil, Jr., the 22-year-old university student whose fierce apprehension was recorded in a viral mobile phone video clip previously this year, submitted a government legal action on Wednesday versus 2 constable’s replacements associated with his apprehension, the constable and the city of Jacksonville, Florida, after district attorneys decreased to submit criminal costs versus the police officers in case.
McNeil was apprehended throughout a web traffic quit on Feb. 19 after cops claimed he was drawn over for apparently not having his fronts lights on while it was drizzling. He showed up together with his lawyer Ben Crump and Harry Daniels throughout an interview in Jacksonville on Wednesday where the legal action was introduced.
” I truly simply desired my side of the tale to be listened to … I wish my tale obtains listened to today,” McNeil claimed briefly comments on Wednesday.
Court documents state that McNeil was apprehended and billed with “standing up to apprehension without physical violence to his/her individual,” having not greater than 20 grams of cannabis with intent to utilize medication stuffs, driving while chauffeur’s certificate is put on hold, not putting on a seat belt and no fronts lights in rain/fog/or smoke.
Furthermore, court documents reveal that McNeil was punished to and offered 2 days behind bars for standing up to apprehension without physical violence and driving with a put on hold certificate.
Crump claimed on Wednesday that the lawful group submitted the legal action “not even if of the fierce, harsh assault on this young university student that had not been fierce,” yet likewise since district attorneys decreased to submit costs versus the police officers associated with this instance.
The legal action, which was submitted in the united state Area Court for the Center Area of Florida– Jacksonville Department, implicates the police officers of “extreme pressure” and declares that the plans of the constable’s workplace and the city enable “police officers to use baseless and extreme physical pressure versus a person that presents no prompt risk to the policeman or to others.”
The legal action likewise declares that the plans of the constable’s workplace do not call for police officers to report all events of pressure.
William McNeil, Jr. talks throughout an interview in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sept. 10, 2025.
WJXX
” This plan produces a setup that advertises its police officers to participate in unlawful or extreme use pressure without the anxiety of experiencing any kind of effects or repercussions, neither the commitment to report such activities,” the grievance declares.
According to the legal action, McNeil endured a laceration to his chin and his lip, a broken tooth and a shut head injury that led him to be “detected with a recurring distressing mind injury.”
He is looking for a court test and at the very least $100,000 in problems for physical and psychological distress, at the very least $100,000 in compensatory damages, in addition to lawyers costs and various other expenses, the grievance states.
” As an outcome of pending lawsuits, we would certainly be not able to comment even more on this event,” a representative for the Jacksonville Constable’s Workplace informed ABC Information on Wednesday.
ABC Information connected to the city of Jacksonville yet an ask for remark was not quickly returned.
The police officers entailed are called in the legal action as D. Bowers and D. Miller. It is vague if they have actually maintained lawyers. ABC Information has actually connected to the Jacksonville Consolidated Lodge No. 5-30 of the Fraternal Order of Cops (FOP), which is the union standing for the police officers, yet an ask for remark was not quickly returned.
District attorneys introduced the choice not to submit any kind of criminal costs versus the police officers in this instance in a 16-page memorandum launched on Aug. 13 by the state lawyer for the fourth Judicial Circuit Court, which offers Clay, Duval, and Nassau regions in Florida.
” Policeman Bowers carried out an authorized website traffic quit and provided McNeil 12 specific legal commands, which McNeil rejected to follow. Continuously asking for a manager and suggesting the qualities of the website traffic quit did not discharge McNeil from adhering to legal orders,” the memorandum claimed. “McNeil’s rejection to give his recognition, enrollment, and evidence of insurance coverage, adhered to by his rejection to leave the SUV, reveal his hands, and follow the police officers’ orders, produced a hazardous circumstance for all entailed.”
Crump slammed that choice on Wednesday, stating, “Even if they state it’s lawful, that does not make it right.”
In reaction to the memorandum, the cops union protected the policeman’s activities in an Aug. 13 declaration uploaded on its Facebook account.
” When you enable due procedure and comprehensive examinations to happen you obtain realities and proof. Not feelings, schedules and national politics being pressed by extreme individuals in our neighborhood and some chosen authorities that seemed like they needed to hear themselves talk prior to all the realities were recognized,” the union claimed.
Crump and Daniels slammed district attorneys for not submitting costs and gotten in touch with the U.S Division of Justice to explore this instance in a Sept. 8 declaration.
” It’s not simply exactly how fierce and harsh these police officers were. It’s that they were definitely unapologetic since they recognized no person was mosting likely to hold them answerable,” Daniels claimed. “It’s clear that the State Lawyer’s Workplace rejects to do anything regarding it. So we’re contacting the Division of Justice.”
ABC Information connected to the DOJ yet an ask for remark was not returned.
Constable T.K. Seas introduced an interior testimonial of the event throughout a July 21 interview and claimed that the activities of the police officers were being checked out in an “management testimonial,” which will certainly establish if the replacements “gone against [Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office] plan.”
” Pending the end result of this management testimonial, Policeman Bowers has actually been removed of his police authority,” Seas claimed at the time. It is vague if various other replacements associated with the apprehension have actually been put on management leave.
Inquired about the standing of the examination and the work standing of police officers called in the legal action, the Jacksonville Constable’s Workplace did not quickly reply to an ask for remark.
