JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The officer under investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after video of a violent traffic stop went viral last year has been reprimanded for leaving “a strike to the face” out of his Response to Resistance report.
The Internal Affairs investigation exonerated Officer D.J. Bowers of using “unnecessary force” but sustained the administrative charge that he “failed to conform to work standards.”
READ: Full Internal Affairs summary
Bowers was issued a Written Reprimand Level 1, and his law enforcement authority was restored. He had been working in the Tele-Serv Unit since July of last year while the incident was being investigated.
Attorneys for the driver in the incident, Will McNeil Jr., have filed a federal lawsuit against Bowers, other officers involved in the stop, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and the city of Jacksonville.
Civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump said McNeil suffered a traumatic brain injury in the encounter, which was captured on cellphone video and body-worn cameras.
Those videos show Bowers breaking McNeil’s car window and striking him in the face before he’s pulled from the SUV, punched in the chin, slammed to the ground and arrested.
Bowers’ arrest report for McNeil did not mention the first strike to the face while McNeil was still in the vehicle.
While the IA investigation found Bowers’ use of force was “within JSO policy,” it also found that leaving the strike to the face out of the Response to Resistance report was a “policy/work-standards violation.”
An earlier investigation by the State Attorney’s Office determined no criminal charges would be pursued against Bowers.
During the SAO investigation, Bowers explained that he considered his use of the “distraction strike” to McNeil’s face as a tool and did not consider it as the deployment of force.
The IA investigators said that even if Bowers considered it a “tool,” a strike to the face should be treated as force and should have been included in the RTR report.
But the investigators concluded there was no evidence that Bowers left the strike out of the report to be deceptive.
McNeil’s attorneys, when they announced the federal lawsuit, said video evidence demonstrates that McNeil was struck in the face by Bowers while he was seated in his driver’s seat, without posing any threat to others or exhibiting resistance.
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But the SAO investigators said the open-handed strike served a “legitimate tactical purpose” to get McNeil out of the SUV and to show his hands, which McNeil did after the strike.
Until then, the SAO report found, McNeil had refused to comply with Bowers’ “lawful commands” to get out of the SUV, and show his license, registration and proof of insurance.
“McNeil’s refusal to provide his identification, registration, and proof of insurance, followed by his refusal to exit the SUV, show his hands, and obey the officers’ orders, created a dangerous situation for all involved,” SAO investigators wrote in their report.
The SAO said Bowers’ second strike, a “close-fisted punch to McNeil’s chin,” happened during McNeil’s arrest and was in response to McNeil’s physical resistance.
But McNeil’s attorneys say the video also shows McNeil’s head being forcefully slammed to the pavement, resulting in a laceration of the chin, a laceration of the lip, a fractured tooth, and a clinically diagnosed traumatic brain injury.
The attorneys requested that the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigate whether the detention, arrest and use of force of Mr. McNeil violated 18 U.S. Code § 242, Deprivation of Rights under Color of Law.
According to the IA report, McNeil did not provide a statement to Internal Affairs despite multiple attempted contacts.
Daniels shared the following statement with News4JAX about the IA investigation’s conclusions:
The JSO’s internal investigation reflects JSO’s biased view of the events that took place on the day of the incident. Mr. McNeil has initiated a federal lawsuit against the sheriff and others to ensure accountability for the brutal beating he endured. It is crucial for citizens to demand accountability for misconduct, both at the ballot box and in the legal system, as JSO shows no interest in addressing the actions of its officers.
JSO has previously declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.