August 1, 2025 • 16 mins
Dr. Vanessa Tyler takes us inside the case of William McNeil Jr., the 22-year old HBCU student who was pulled from his car and beaten by Florida police officers. Hear accounts from William himself, and the attorneys who represent him, as they detail the events that unfolded during the routine traffic stop that escalated into violence.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So as your last warning to open the vehicle accident before,
we're gonna break the window.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Have you seen this yet routine traffic stop that sadly
becoming just that for black drivers, the routine.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
You're under arrest for resisting the law.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You take take us on the worse.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is gonna be the driver refusing to exit the car.
Twenty two year old William McNeil Jr. Says he was
scared to death to step out, fearing as that Jacksonville,
Florida police officer warned, it's about to get worse, and
it did.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Can you call your supervisor? Can you call your supervisor?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I go for it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
That request really set things off. The officer broke the
window and in video now viral, punched the black young
man dead in the face.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This was a classic case of driving while black.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
On your seatbelt. We're driving black in blackland, and now
as a brown person, you just so invisible. Where we're from.
Brothers and sisters. I welcome you to this joyful day.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
And we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Where we are.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I know someone's heard something.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And where we're going.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The black information that work presents blackland with your host,
Vanessa Tyler. Absolutely, there's a reason why I'm pulling you
over for one thing, inclement whether you don't have your
lights on.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Two things, you're not wearing your seatbelt.
Speaker 6 (01:32):
There don't need and it's not okay.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm not arguing with you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm telling you why I'm pulling it over.
Speaker 7 (01:38):
Give me your driver's license registrations.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Excuse me?
Speaker 8 (01:43):
How your frud visor?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Why did you call me old?
Speaker 7 (01:46):
Sorry, I'm gonna tell you by purpose, doll driver, I
told you, why did you call me over?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Step out of the.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Vehicle, step out of not having daytime lights on. William
McNeil Junior says it was not rating. Then he says
that's when it hit him. He could be another hashtag
backup arrived siren's lights. He says, guns pointed directly at him.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I was really just scared open the door and accident.
We are going to break the window.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
As he stayed in the car waiting for that requested supervisor,
he did something else. He hit record on his cell phone,
as warned the arresting officer, Donald Bowers, broke the window
and nearly broke McNeil's face, punching him dead in it. McNeil,
who looked stunned, held up his hands, was forcefully and
violently dragged out of the vehicle, cracking his tooth and
(02:36):
busting his lip. That's the video, his cell phone video,
twenty million in counting viewed on social media. Most were outraged.
Speaker 7 (02:45):
Acted the vehicle, now the vehicle, showing your hands?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Cool, he's out now and on the ground.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
What do you mean he talking about arrest idiot?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
This is about driving wild black We don't believe they
ever would have done that had this been a young
white citizen.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
This incident happened in February. McNeil was sitting on his
video all this time, afraid to come forward.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I mean, this was a horrific bruder encounter. Could y'all
see where they was knocking his head against the concrete
while he was a handcuffed.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump whose voice you recognize, and
Harry Daniels headed this news conference with William McNeil Junior
and his family.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Somebody getting pulled over for not having headlights on during
the day, that's suspicions within himself. You know, I've been
I've been black my home forty four years. You know,
if somebody's telling me they pulled me over, not having
headlights on in this day outside and no rate and anything.
I'm concerned, What are you really pulling me over for?
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Could you bring your.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Supervisor to the same and that that was his response.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
How could he not be scared? A routine traffic stop
can be deadly.
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Florida has a police brutality problem. It's had a police
brutality problem for a long time. And so, as a
native of the state of Georgia whose mother is from Jacksonville,
I know far too well of the brutality here in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Still Rights attorney Gerald Griggs adds everybody around this region
knows about the JSO.
Speaker 9 (04:31):
And when I saw the video of what happened to
mister McNeil, I was aghast. It was horrific for somebody
who was simply exercising their Fourth Amendment rights to ask
for a supervisor as to why he was being pulled over.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Attorney Daniels says his Jacksonville practice is full of similar cases.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
It's a culture of the Jacksonville Sheriff Office of I've
represented several people down here, names such as Jamie Johnson,
lackid Wood, so y'all remember was vicious beating by Jacksonville
Chair of Office and you know the coming denominator, Jamie Johnson.
They stopped him for a seatbelt violation. The ken Woods,
they stopped him for a seatbet violation. And they try
(05:11):
to say they stopped this mac neil for a seatbet violation,
but the video showed he had his seatbelt on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For William McNeill Jr. He didn't have to go too
far to find proof of how traumatizing a stop could be.
He would only need to look in his own home.
His stepfather, Alton Solomon, takes to the mic bear with him.
This is emotional.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
I can't call him my stepson because this is my son. Yes, sir,
I've been through what he's been through, but I've seen
what my son did that I had to do right,
and he sot right and he did right.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
To see that. It's a hurting fitting to be a
father that loved God first and to see all my kids.
Speaker 10 (06:05):
Not being able to wake up in the morning getting
my phone calls in your child is dumbe.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
That's a hurting flitting.
Speaker 10 (06:12):
But I thank God, yes, because God got him all right.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Let y'all keep up and his mother, LaToya Solomon. William
McNeill Jr. Is our only son, her first born. He
has three younger sisters.
Speaker 8 (06:26):
I'm thankful to God for protecting him because I know
what the outcomes could have been. But I believe in
faith in God. It's what protected my only son.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And I think that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
McNeil knows how lucky he is. There is no guarantee
surviving a simple traffic stops.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
First of all, I don't thank God for bringing everybody
here together, and thank y'all bes apartment.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
That day.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
I just really wanted to know, you know why I
was getting pulled over, and while I needed to step
out the car, and I know I didn't do nothing wrong,
I was really just scared, and nah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
McNeil is a college student. In fact, the president of
his college attended the press conference too.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
My name is doctor Anthony J.
Speaker 11 (07:27):
David Saying, the thirteenth president of Livingstone College and HPCU
in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
McNeil is known on campus.
Speaker 11 (07:37):
This young man will volunteer on the weekend helping young
men and women who don't have the funds to get
their cars repaired. He'll find a little corner with a
shade tree, and he'll go ahead and he'll help students
from that old hymn book. If I can help somebody
as I passed along, if I could cheer somebody with
(07:58):
the word or a song, if I can show somebody
that they're traveling wrong in my living, will not be
in vain. I want this family to know that the
entire blue Beard Nation stands with will. We stand with you,
and we believe what doctor King said. And injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
In other words, says Attorney Daniels McNeil, was a good kid.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
They always have this narrator being you know, he was
a he was a thug, he was a criminal. That's
the narrative, Yes, sir, But Willingam was doing every WILLI will.
Was doing everything right, a college student, own scholarship, doing
what's required of him to be a better person. And
(08:46):
all he did, all he did was exercise his fundamental rights,
his God giving Rice to answer simple question.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Why are you stopping me?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Nor rests or criminal record until now. Arrested charge and
pled guilty to resisting rest, driving with a suspended license,
and having a small amount of marijuana. Case closed the
incident back in February now, nearly six months later, the
cell video with the busted window in McNeil's busted lip.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They didn't know he was famin, so they wrote these
reports that were completely contradicted by the.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Video, the video giving a different perspective from the body
cam and telling a different story.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Thank god he recorded that video. Yeah, thank god he
recorded that video.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Gord Jordan.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean when you think about all the young
people should be recording these interactions with law enforcement, because
what it tells us, just like with George Floyd, if
we don't record the video, we can see what they
put in the police report with George Floyd before they
(10:02):
realized the video existed.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And now we see what.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
They put in the police report before they realized William
McNeil video existed.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Officials had this one shut. The video opens a speedy
investigation right back up.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
He was never interviewed by State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office.
Never once did they talk to this young man. And
I would assume they saw the bodycam video from the
police department and they said, well, no problem. They saw
everything that America is seeing and they said no problem.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And that is the problem. That is the problem.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Was it appropriate for the officer to punch this guy
and jaw out he'd already broke in the window.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Was that he guessing though? Was that appropriate?
Speaker 7 (10:53):
It depends on the circumstances, But it's already determined it's
not criminal.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Now we're going to look for it for JS.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Possibilitions under the Sheriff of Jacksonville.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Yes, they're absolutely was force used by the arresting officers,
and yes that force is ugly, But as I've said
many times before, the reality is an all force, all
violence is ugly, and just because force is ugly does
not mean it's unlawful or contrary to policy.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Sheriff tk Water is taking heat about his officer's treatment
of black drivers and taking offense at the suggestion he
would stand for it.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Don't, don't use a black thing, don't I'm a black man.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
Wait, hold on, hold on, Eric, hold on, hold on,
hold on, stop stop stop for a second, because he's
trying to be incendiary, and this is not the time
for it. This is here me sharing information with our
public right the whole statements about the black issue. I
wouldn't work here if we're after black men or black
people period.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I can tell you he wouldn't. I can tell you
any other.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
African American or black male or female that works here
wouldn't work here if we're after if our black citizens
are under siege.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Plus Sheriff Water says McNeil should have listened. He says,
his officers so far this year made more than thirty
nine thousand total traffic stops, and not all black drivers
get treated like McNeil.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
You know why because if I was ever stopped by
the police, which I was when I was a young man,
and they asked me to do something, I did it
simple simple compliance. It doesn't rise, it doesn't get out
of control, that stff doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Then do as we ask you to do.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
If you don't like the work appliance, just do as
we ask you to do that so that we.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Can get finished.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Then you tell us about it if you feel like
your rights were violated, and we can deal with it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
The sheriff goes on about how many times the black
twenty two year old was warned.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
McNeil refused to provide stopping officers with his driver's license
and registration. Fourteen seconds later, he locked his car door
and refused to exit the vehicle despite being told many
times that he was under arrest. Moreover, McNeil was warned
seven times that he needed to open the door and
exit because he was under arrest or resisting an officer
(13:03):
without bias or police will be forced to break his
car window.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
The sheriff has put his officer on leave now that
the cell video has come out. The sheriff says he
did not know it even existed until the case from
February just went viral. The white officer with the strong
right hook, Donald Bowers, as no stranger to citizen complaints.
He has five of them on his record, with several
of them sticking. Charges included things like conduct unbecoming an officer.
(13:31):
One of the outcomes he had to undergo informal counseling.
The sheriff has not decided on any action from this case,
mainly because police bodycam didn't show the punch, only McNeil's
cell phone which he had recording inside the car.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
So here's the process.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
When force is used, a response to resistance report is written,
it goes to the supervisors. The supervisors then at that
point review body cam footage, so they would have reviewed
this but you can't see. Admittedly, you can't see the
strike at all, so it's very difficult. Had they seen
that probably would have risen to another level to where
somebody else would It would have gone further, which is
(14:10):
why we didn't really know at that time that all
this had taken place.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
The officers did not list the punch on the police
report to the sheriff.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Respectfully, you can't justify this, you can't condone this. You
have to condemn this. You have to look at that
video and say this does not reflect our training, our
policies are our values, and you need to terminate that officer.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Illitly, Crump ads there were others black and white, wearing
the badge on the scene.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
What is alarming to me is that there are several
officers on the scene and they seem like it was
business as usual.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It is president and.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So how can you trust the system like that to say, oh,
who are you going to report the police to.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
The police.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's why we believe you need an independent investigation separate
from the State Attorney's office here in Jacksonville, Florida. We
do not believe that is an independent investigation. I know
several citizens have said they believe a conflict of interest
is between our arises with the state attorney and the
(15:47):
Sheriff's office in Jacksonville. A person who is unbiased looking
at this video sees William as a victim. Unfortunately, and
apparently this state attorney are the Sheriff's department never saw
(16:10):
William as a victim. They only saw him as a perpetrator,
a criminal.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Crump says, like in nearly all cases involving black people today,
Thank goodness for the video.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So everybody make sure you keep recording all of these
interactions with law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
This case is not over. McNeil is still traumatized with
the unspecified injuries he will live with for a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Justice for William McNeil, Just justice for William McNeil.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. Be sure to like and subscribe to Blackland.
I will have a new episode every week.
So as your last warning to open the vehicle accident before,
we're gonna break the window.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Have you seen this yet routine traffic stop that sadly
becoming just that for black drivers, the routine.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
You're under arrest for resisting the law.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You take take us on the worse.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is gonna be the driver refusing to exit the car.
Twenty two year old William McNeil Jr. Says he was
scared to death to step out, fearing as that Jacksonville,
Florida police officer warned, it's about to get worse, and
it did.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Can you call your supervisor? Can you call your supervisor?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I go for it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
That request really set things off. The officer broke the
window and in video now viral, punched the black young
man dead in the face.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This was a classic case of driving while black.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
On your seatbelt. We're driving black in blackland, and now
as a brown person, you just so invisible. Where we're from.
Brothers and sisters. I welcome you to this joyful day.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
And we celebrate freedom.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Where we are.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I know someone's heard something.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And where we're going.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
The black information that work presents blackland with your host,
Vanessa Tyler. Absolutely, there's a reason why I'm pulling you
over for one thing, inclement whether you don't have your
lights on.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Two things, you're not wearing your seatbelt.
Speaker 6 (01:32):
There don't need and it's not okay.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm not arguing with you.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm telling you why I'm pulling it over.
Speaker 7 (01:38):
Give me your driver's license registrations.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Excuse me?
Speaker 8 (01:43):
How your frud visor?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Why did you call me old?
Speaker 7 (01:46):
Sorry, I'm gonna tell you by purpose, doll driver, I
told you, why did you call me over?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Step out of the.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Vehicle, step out of not having daytime lights on. William
McNeil Junior says it was not rating. Then he says
that's when it hit him. He could be another hashtag
backup arrived siren's lights. He says, guns pointed directly at him.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I was really just scared open the door and accident.
We are going to break the window.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
As he stayed in the car waiting for that requested supervisor,
he did something else. He hit record on his cell phone,
as warned the arresting officer, Donald Bowers, broke the window
and nearly broke McNeil's face, punching him dead in it. McNeil,
who looked stunned, held up his hands, was forcefully and
violently dragged out of the vehicle, cracking his tooth and
(02:36):
busting his lip. That's the video, his cell phone video,
twenty million in counting viewed on social media. Most were outraged.
Speaker 7 (02:45):
Acted the vehicle, now the vehicle, showing your hands?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Cool, he's out now and on the ground.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
What do you mean he talking about arrest idiot?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
This is about driving wild black We don't believe they
ever would have done that had this been a young
white citizen.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
This incident happened in February. McNeil was sitting on his
video all this time, afraid to come forward.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I mean, this was a horrific bruder encounter. Could y'all
see where they was knocking his head against the concrete
while he was a handcuffed.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump whose voice you recognize, and
Harry Daniels headed this news conference with William McNeil Junior
and his family.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Somebody getting pulled over for not having headlights on during
the day, that's suspicions within himself. You know, I've been
I've been black my home forty four years. You know,
if somebody's telling me they pulled me over, not having
headlights on in this day outside and no rate and anything.
I'm concerned, What are you really pulling me over for?
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Could you bring your.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Supervisor to the same and that that was his response.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
How could he not be scared? A routine traffic stop
can be deadly.
Speaker 9 (04:07):
Florida has a police brutality problem. It's had a police
brutality problem for a long time. And so, as a
native of the state of Georgia whose mother is from Jacksonville,
I know far too well of the brutality here in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Still Rights attorney Gerald Griggs adds everybody around this region
knows about the JSO.
Speaker 9 (04:31):
And when I saw the video of what happened to
mister McNeil, I was aghast. It was horrific for somebody
who was simply exercising their Fourth Amendment rights to ask
for a supervisor as to why he was being pulled over.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Attorney Daniels says his Jacksonville practice is full of similar cases.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
It's a culture of the Jacksonville Sheriff Office of I've
represented several people down here, names such as Jamie Johnson,
lackid Wood, so y'all remember was vicious beating by Jacksonville
Chair of Office and you know the coming denominator, Jamie Johnson.
They stopped him for a seatbelt violation. The ken Woods,
they stopped him for a seatbet violation. And they try
(05:11):
to say they stopped this mac neil for a seatbet violation,
but the video showed he had his seatbelt on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For William McNeill Jr. He didn't have to go too
far to find proof of how traumatizing a stop could be.
He would only need to look in his own home.
His stepfather, Alton Solomon, takes to the mic bear with him.
This is emotional.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
I can't call him my stepson because this is my son. Yes, sir,
I've been through what he's been through, but I've seen
what my son did that I had to do right,
and he sot right and he did right.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
To see that. It's a hurting fitting to be a
father that loved God first and to see all my kids.
Speaker 10 (06:05):
Not being able to wake up in the morning getting
my phone calls in your child is dumbe.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
That's a hurting flitting.
Speaker 10 (06:12):
But I thank God, yes, because God got him all right.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Let y'all keep up and his mother, LaToya Solomon. William
McNeill Jr. Is our only son, her first born. He
has three younger sisters.
Speaker 8 (06:26):
I'm thankful to God for protecting him because I know
what the outcomes could have been. But I believe in
faith in God. It's what protected my only son.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And I think that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
McNeil knows how lucky he is. There is no guarantee
surviving a simple traffic stops.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
First of all, I don't thank God for bringing everybody
here together, and thank y'all bes apartment.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
That day.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
I just really wanted to know, you know why I
was getting pulled over, and while I needed to step
out the car, and I know I didn't do nothing wrong,
I was really just scared, and nah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
McNeil is a college student. In fact, the president of
his college attended the press conference too.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
My name is doctor Anthony J.
Speaker 11 (07:27):
David Saying, the thirteenth president of Livingstone College and HPCU
in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
McNeil is known on campus.
Speaker 11 (07:37):
This young man will volunteer on the weekend helping young
men and women who don't have the funds to get
their cars repaired. He'll find a little corner with a
shade tree, and he'll go ahead and he'll help students
from that old hymn book. If I can help somebody
as I passed along, if I could cheer somebody with
(07:58):
the word or a song, if I can show somebody
that they're traveling wrong in my living, will not be
in vain. I want this family to know that the
entire blue Beard Nation stands with will. We stand with you,
and we believe what doctor King said. And injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
In other words, says Attorney Daniels McNeil, was a good kid.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
They always have this narrator being you know, he was
a he was a thug, he was a criminal. That's
the narrative, Yes, sir, But Willingam was doing every WILLI will.
Was doing everything right, a college student, own scholarship, doing
what's required of him to be a better person. And
(08:46):
all he did, all he did was exercise his fundamental rights,
his God giving Rice to answer simple question.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Why are you stopping me?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Nor rests or criminal record until now. Arrested charge and
pled guilty to resisting rest, driving with a suspended license,
and having a small amount of marijuana. Case closed the
incident back in February now, nearly six months later, the
cell video with the busted window in McNeil's busted lip.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
They didn't know he was famin, so they wrote these
reports that were completely contradicted by the.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Video, the video giving a different perspective from the body
cam and telling a different story.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Thank god he recorded that video. Yeah, thank god he
recorded that video.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Gord Jordan.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean when you think about all the young
people should be recording these interactions with law enforcement, because
what it tells us, just like with George Floyd, if
we don't record the video, we can see what they
put in the police report with George Floyd before they
(10:02):
realized the video existed.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And now we see what.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
They put in the police report before they realized William
McNeil video existed.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Officials had this one shut. The video opens a speedy
investigation right back up.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
He was never interviewed by State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office.
Never once did they talk to this young man. And
I would assume they saw the bodycam video from the
police department and they said, well, no problem. They saw
everything that America is seeing and they said no problem.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
And that is the problem. That is the problem.
Speaker 7 (10:46):
Was it appropriate for the officer to punch this guy
and jaw out he'd already broke in the window.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Was that he guessing though? Was that appropriate?
Speaker 7 (10:53):
It depends on the circumstances, But it's already determined it's
not criminal.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Now we're going to look for it for JS.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Possibilitions under the Sheriff of Jacksonville.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Yes, they're absolutely was force used by the arresting officers,
and yes that force is ugly, But as I've said
many times before, the reality is an all force, all
violence is ugly, and just because force is ugly does
not mean it's unlawful or contrary to policy.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Sheriff tk Water is taking heat about his officer's treatment
of black drivers and taking offense at the suggestion he
would stand for it.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Don't, don't use a black thing, don't I'm a black man.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
Wait, hold on, hold on, Eric, hold on, hold on,
hold on, stop stop stop for a second, because he's
trying to be incendiary, and this is not the time
for it. This is here me sharing information with our
public right the whole statements about the black issue. I
wouldn't work here if we're after black men or black
people period.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I can tell you he wouldn't. I can tell you
any other.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
African American or black male or female that works here
wouldn't work here if we're after if our black citizens
are under siege.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Plus Sheriff Water says McNeil should have listened. He says,
his officers so far this year made more than thirty
nine thousand total traffic stops, and not all black drivers
get treated like McNeil.
Speaker 7 (12:12):
You know why because if I was ever stopped by
the police, which I was when I was a young man,
and they asked me to do something, I did it
simple simple compliance. It doesn't rise, it doesn't get out
of control, that stff doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Then do as we ask you to do.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
If you don't like the work appliance, just do as
we ask you to do that so that we.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Can get finished.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Then you tell us about it if you feel like
your rights were violated, and we can deal with it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
The sheriff goes on about how many times the black
twenty two year old was warned.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
McNeil refused to provide stopping officers with his driver's license
and registration. Fourteen seconds later, he locked his car door
and refused to exit the vehicle despite being told many
times that he was under arrest. Moreover, McNeil was warned
seven times that he needed to open the door and
exit because he was under arrest or resisting an officer
(13:03):
without bias or police will be forced to break his
car window.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
The sheriff has put his officer on leave now that
the cell video has come out. The sheriff says he
did not know it even existed until the case from
February just went viral. The white officer with the strong
right hook, Donald Bowers, as no stranger to citizen complaints.
He has five of them on his record, with several
of them sticking. Charges included things like conduct unbecoming an officer.
(13:31):
One of the outcomes he had to undergo informal counseling.
The sheriff has not decided on any action from this case,
mainly because police bodycam didn't show the punch, only McNeil's
cell phone which he had recording inside the car.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
So here's the process.
Speaker 7 (13:48):
When force is used, a response to resistance report is written,
it goes to the supervisors. The supervisors then at that
point review body cam footage, so they would have reviewed
this but you can't see. Admittedly, you can't see the
strike at all, so it's very difficult. Had they seen
that probably would have risen to another level to where
somebody else would It would have gone further, which is
(14:10):
why we didn't really know at that time that all
this had taken place.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
The officers did not list the punch on the police
report to the sheriff.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Respectfully, you can't justify this, you can't condone this. You
have to condemn this. You have to look at that
video and say this does not reflect our training, our
policies are our values, and you need to terminate that officer.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Illitly, Crump ads there were others black and white, wearing
the badge on the scene.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
What is alarming to me is that there are several
officers on the scene and they seem like it was
business as usual.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It is president and.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
So how can you trust the system like that to say, oh,
who are you going to report the police to.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
The police.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That's why we believe you need an independent investigation separate
from the State Attorney's office here in Jacksonville, Florida. We
do not believe that is an independent investigation. I know
several citizens have said they believe a conflict of interest
is between our arises with the state attorney and the
(15:47):
Sheriff's office in Jacksonville. A person who is unbiased looking
at this video sees William as a victim. Unfortunately, and
apparently this state attorney are the Sheriff's department never saw
(16:10):
William as a victim. They only saw him as a perpetrator,
a criminal.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Crump says, like in nearly all cases involving black people today,
Thank goodness for the video.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
So everybody make sure you keep recording all of these
interactions with law enforcement.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
This case is not over. McNeil is still traumatized with
the unspecified injuries he will live with for a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Justice for William McNeil, Just justice for William McNeil.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I'm Vanessa Tyler. Be sure to like and subscribe to Blackland.
I will have a new episode every week.
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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