Black student dragged from his car and beaten by Florida officers files
federal lawsuit
[September 11, 2025]
By KATE PAYNE
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville law enforcement officers violated
the civil rights of a 22-year-old Black college student when they pulled
him from his car and beat him during a traffic stop, according to a
lawsuit filed in a federal court in Jacksonville on Wednesday.
A video showing a Jacksonville Sheriff's officer punching and dragging
William McNeil from his car during a stop in February went viral online
this summer and sparked nationwide outrage.
Prosecutors announced in August they would take no action after
determining the conduct of Officer D. Bowers of the Jacksonville
Sheriff’s Office did not constitute a crime, according to an
investigative report released by the State Attorney’s Office for the
Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
McNeil's attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels say Jacksonville
Sheriff’s Office's policies allow officers to engage in racial profiling
and "illegal or excessive use of force” without fear of consequences.
Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national
prominence representing victims of police brutality and vigilante
violence.
“It’s an unjustifiable, unnecessary and most importantly
unconstitutional use of force,” Crump said.
The attorneys said the lawsuit is aimed not only at addressing the
treatment of their client, but at changing the culture of policing in
the area.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has said there's more to the story than
the viral cellphone video and that McNeil was repeatedly asked to exit
his vehicle. Waters, who is Black, said the footage from inside the car
“does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding the
incident.”
The lawsuit names Waters, Bowers, and another officer named D. Miller,
as well as the City of Jacksonville and Duval County government. A
spokesperson for the sheriff's office declined to comment, citing the
pending litigation.
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William McNeil Jr., third from right, looks on while his attorney
Ben Crump, center, speaks during a press conference Tuesday, July
29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)
According to a prosecutors' report, Bowers stopped McNeil for
failing to turn on his headlights and buckle his seatbelt, after
seeing his SUV parked outside a house the officer was surveilling
for “drug activity.”
Questioning the justification for the stop, McNeil requested a
supervisor respond to the incident. Based on a review of body camera
footage, interviews with officers and statements by McNeil,
prosecutors said Bowers gave McNeil a dozen “lawful commands,” which
he disobeyed.
Crump has claimed officers' accounts of the incident are unreliable
and has fiercely criticized prosecutors’ finding that officers did
not commit any criminal wrongdoing, saying his client remained calm
while the officers who are trained to de-escalate tense situations
were the ones escalating violence. Crump said the case harkened back
to the Civil Rights movement, when Black people were often attacked
when they tried to assert their rights.
According to his attorneys, McNeil suffered a laceration to the chin
and lip, a fractured tooth, and has been diagnosed with an “ongoing
traumatic brain injury.” McNeil also continues to suffer
post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms, including nightmares
and flashbacks of the incident, his lawyers wrote in a legal filing.
McNeil's attorneys have also formally called on the Department of
Justice to conduct its own investigation of the incident and what
they described as “excessive force” and “systemic failures” by
Jacksonville officials.
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