July 26, 2025 • 22 mins
In the second half of the show, we discuss the viral video of a Florida officer breaking the window of and punching the face of William McNeil Jr. over a headlight dispute and McNeil Jr. asking for a supervisor.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, ramses Ja.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is Ramsay's Jaw. I am q Warden. You are
tuned in to Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Indeed you are, and we need to stick around because
we're not done yet. We are going to be talking
about the viral video you may have seen on your
socials of police smashing the window of a black driver
in Florida and then punching him in the face over
a headlight dispute and snatching him out of the car
(00:35):
and all the officers started yelling and stop resisting even
though he wasn't resisting, and beating him while he was
on the ground.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So yeah, if you saw that video, we're going to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
About that, and we need you to buckle up because
that one's going to be the heavy one. That was
about as disturbing a video as I've seen, and it
wasn't even a video when somebody lost their life. So
not looking forward to it. But before we get there,
at his time right now, to Baba become a better ally,
Bob on today's Babba, we want to kind of share
(01:06):
an example of an ally in Greensboro, North Carolina. This
comes from Fox eight News. If you want to check
out the full story, check out myfoxeight dot com Love
when we get to use Fox. Democratic Governor Josh Stein
has vetoed three controversial bills that would roll back diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives and impose new limits on transgender
(01:29):
rights in North Carolina. The legislation mirrors a broader national
movement champion by President Donald Trump to dismantled DEI efforts
in government, education, and business. One of the vetoed bills
would ban DEI related hiring practices in state and local agencies,
while another would restrict divisive concepts in public K through
twelve schools and universities.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
They're targeting specific minorities. That's a fact, unquote, Cameron Martin, said,
a graduate student in sociology at UNC Greensboro. But we're
not teaching our kids to be inclusive unquote. The third bill,
originally proposed to combat online sexual exploitation, was amended to
include a band on gender affirming care for incarcerated individuals
(02:11):
and new rules on birth certificates for transgender residents. Stein
criticized the Republican led General Assembly for prioritizing cultural war
legislation overpassing a state budget, saying in a statement that
the bills quote would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine
the quality of public services and public education.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Desmera Gatewood, program manager.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
At Democracy North Carolina said public reaction to the vetos
will likely vary.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's going to be interesting to see how people respond
to the governor. I think he does have a certain
level of support in different places regionally, in different demographics.
Debora Maxwell, president of the North Carolina INAACP, said the
measures threatened free speech and equity in public institutions. There
have been people going undercover record voring facility and getting
(03:01):
people fired for making positive DEI statements.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Unquote, Maxwell said.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So yeah, shout out to the governor of North Carolina
holding the line.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We appreciate you, all right. So Q, you saw the
video of.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
His name is William McNeil Junior. I think you're the
one who sent the video to me. Do you remember
the first thing I said to you when after I
saw it? I do not, okay, I remember saying and
You can correct me if I'm wrong, if this jog's
your memory, But I remember saying something like that that
(03:43):
like it was so disturbing. Even though we have had
to watch videos of people losing their lives. I don't
think anybody should, any any decent human beings should be
consuming content like that on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But this is the nature of the.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Work that we do, and we don't overwhelm ourselves out
just for people that care about Q and maize safety
and mental health and so forth.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
We do take terms when we.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Have to process traumatic videos and content to kind of
make heads or tails of it. But this one was
so disturbing to me, even though it wasn't someone losing
their life. And I think part of what I said
was the way that he looks into his camera. So
(04:37):
for folks that don't know, I'll get into the story
from the Black Information Network, but just let me paint
the picture of how this hit me. The gentleman is
sitting in his car. William McNeil Jr. He's sitting in
his car. He turns on his camera, starts recording, and
sets the camera on his dashboard so the camera's facing
him and you can see out of the driver's side window,
(04:57):
the police officer yelling through the window that he needs
to open the door, get out of the car, that
sort of thing, and William McNeill Jr. Is saying, I
asked for a supervisor. I want a supervisor, and get
a supervisor. I'm not getting out of my car. I'm
not doing any of that. Get me a supervisor. And
(05:19):
he's glancing at his camera while the officer pulls out
a baton and starts trying to break the window. And
the look on his face was a look of acceptance,
but not a not a positive acceptance, not a not
(05:44):
a okay, well, let's let this happen. It was more
of a heartbreaking type of acceptance. When the glass broke,
he kept looking at the camera. He didn't look away.
I'm sure that was very loud, have glass breaking right
next to you.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
He was an unmoved. He continued to look at the camera.
And then the first thing that happens is the officer
punches him through the open window, right in the face,
right in the jaw.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
And you see him.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Eat that punch like an adult man. Men have a
lot of strength. Punched him in the face overhand, right
with all his might, and he just ate it and
he kept looking at the camera and it was like,
it makes you want to cry. It makes you want
(06:35):
to cry. Man, It's just like it's is a very
disturbing video. And I remember having this moment with you Q,
and I was like, I wish I didn't see that, Like,
(06:56):
I know I have to. I know why you sent
it to me. I know that we both have to
and we both have to talk about it. You know,
why would God make us like this to endure this?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Like, it's just there's so much unfair about that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That Does that jog your memory a little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, it absolutely does not. Yeah, I wish I hope
that we get a chance to get to know our listeners.
We often talk about stories like this and you guys
will hear ramses chuckle. I promise that's not because it's funny.
And I know it's hard without context to place that
in a way. It's not satirical, it's not making light
of I can it to a trauma response because the
(07:49):
alternative is to break down into like voice trembling tears.
While trying to do this show, I saw that video
and it enraged me. And I've saw so many videos
since in the last few days that I was brought
to tears today in the middle of my day, surrounded
(08:10):
by strangers, in very very public view. But I could
not help myself because it is emotionally exhausting to have
this be our perpetual truth. You asked about God, and
it's very very hard to maintain belief and faith and
in higher power that would allow for the same group
of people to oppress, beat, kill, abuse, attack, murder, rape, kidnap, traffic,
(08:40):
the same other group of people for all of history.
And this karma that you speak of never shows up.
The fruit that should be born of planting these types
of seeds never happens. That harvest never shows. They reap chaos, violence, evil,
(09:09):
for all of history, the same victim, over and over again.
Once upon a time people gathered to see it, and
then for another amount of time people pretended that it
stopped happening. And here we are with people gathering to
see it again. And it's the highest rated show on television,
(09:31):
it's the highest clicked show on the Internet. And you
get outraged, and you get tears, and you get anger,
and you get heartbreak. But you don't get change, you
don't get progress, you don't get any sizable, reasonable shake
to the system. There's some payouts sometimes, but pennies. They
took that young woman's life in her bed. They gave
(09:53):
her family twelve million dollars as if that was supposed
to soothe their hurt. As they charged none of them
officers for killing her. This young man's face was not
just acceptance.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
It was like a goodbye, Yeah, that's it. It wasn't
like I'm about to get beat up. This is the end.
That's nothing I can do. This is the end, and
there's a thing I can do. So I have to
just accept that.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Because at four o'clock in the afternoon with no weather,
I'm being pulled over for not having my headlights on
an inclement weather, that's it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And then arrested for arrest for resisting arrest. So how
do we get here? Again?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
If I wasn't being arrested, how would I be resisting arrest?
So how am I being arrested for resisting arrest and
then beat and every officer getting their lick in. Let
me get my turn because they get off on it
because they can and nothing will happen. White supremacy has
(11:02):
never known how to hold white supremacy accountable. These systems
were set up to function this way, and now some people,
bless their hearts.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Think that it's wrong, but it's too late.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
The system has been allowed to function the way that
it does forever, and not enough people who aren't affected
by care enough for it to change. And this is
a both sides of the Ale discussion. None of you
have ever done anything to fix it. None of you,
(11:39):
I don't care whose name you interject, I don't care
whose name you insert, whose campaign you and certain none
of you have ever done enough to change it. The
guy in office now bullies through every piece of legislation
that he.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Wants, he doesn't care who agrees, and got.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Him to the point where now everybody just agrees, government
and private sector. So when we had the levers of power,
when we could bring about change, we did nothing. George
Floyd was a moment, and the whole world knew it
was a moment. You had the moral upper hand to
(12:21):
bring forth sweeping change, and you did nothing. And once
they saw another moment where the whole world was watching,
where the whole world agreed that something was wrong, and
nothing happened to them, not just business as usual, but worse.
(12:43):
And now they have the endorsement of the highest seat
in the land to displace harm, beat up, run over,
stomp on anyone that they disagreed with, anyone that they
deemed less than. And they understand that the worst that
will happen if they'll get reassigned. I just won't work
(13:03):
for this agency anymore. If I go to jail, I
might miss one of my kid's birthdays. What of your progress?
My time, my son's time, my father's time, his father's time.
(13:25):
You guys, keep accepting this as truth as you if
you want to, and keep hope alive to yourself, because
that's becoming very, very impossible for me to keep pretending
that I think things are going to get better for
who when where irresponsible to me as a father to
(13:49):
continue to let my family live their life in this
society where all of you have shown that we're not
worth anything to you. And man got his teeth knocked
out in a concussion for not having on his lights
in broad daylight, and even the police reports say that
(14:13):
there was no rain and no inclement weather. Yeah, so
let's let's as he still got charged by the way.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, no, I saw that.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Let's read this because I want to. I want to
make sure that this is stated for the record so
people know how to follow this part of the conversation.
Because you're you're right where we need you to be.
This from the Black Information Network. A black driver is
seeking justice after a Florida police officer broke his car
(14:45):
window and punched him in the face after he was
pulled over for not having his headlights on. The encounter
between William McNeil junior, twenty two and officers from the
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office unfolded during it February nineteenth traffic stop.
Viral video of the stop shows an officer asking me
neil why he was driving without headlights, to which the
driver said, there's no rain quote, it doesn't matter, You're
(15:06):
still required to have headlights on, unquote, the officer said.
The driver asked to see that law that is supposed
sorry that supported the officer's comment. The officer said he
would show it to him once he agreed to exit
his vehicle. McNeil asked the officer to contact his supervisor
before the police smashed his car. Carlindo exit the vehicle now,
(15:27):
Police said. An officer then punched McNeil in the face
and again ordered him to get out of the vehicle.
McNeil complied with an officer's order to show his hands.
Police proceeded to open his vehicle door and drag him
out of the vehicle before appearing to beat him to
the ground. Following the traffic stop, McNeil said he suffered
a chip too, stitches in his lips, a congussion, and
(15:48):
short term memory loss. Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters announced Sunday,
July twentieth that an internal investigation had been launched into
the virable incident.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
We are aware of a video circulating on social media
showing the traffic stop represented to be from February nineteen,
twenty twenty five. 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.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
McNeil has retained civil rights attorney Harry Daniels and Ben
Crump quote to help him fight for justice Following a
February nineteenth incident when jso officers Violin at least smashed
his window and punched him in the face multiple times
after he asked to speak to a supervisor unquote. His
legal team said in a statement, Okay, I also want
to add that there's another video of the incident, the
(16:37):
officer's body cam footage. If he didn't have this video
on his phone, we would have never known about this incident.
By the way, so if William McNeil Junior didn't record
put the phone on his dashboard, we'd never know about
this incident. So I want you to bear this in
mind that the times that this happens, You know how,
(16:58):
I think most people understand that black people, men especially
get pulled over more often than anyone else, Right, So
these types of things do happen. As we've seen based
on the video evidence. People don't always record their video evidence.
People don't always have clips in their car to hold
their phone up. People don't whatever. And in this video,
right after they took him out of the car, punched
(17:19):
him in the face of second time, slamming them on
the ground, the officer reaches in and turns his video off.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
You see that in the video.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Okay, So a lot of people will push back.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I want to say just a couple of things before
we get back to you.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
I hope we get back to but a lot of
people will say, well, why didn't he just comply? That's
obviously the number one go to for people.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
This video is proof of why simply complying with police orders,
particularly when it comes to step out of the vehicle,
is especially scary. Right, I don't want to get out
of my car at all. Please get your supervisor. I
want the boss here because y'all could be roided up angry.
(18:09):
You know, former high school bullies turned professional bullies, and
I'm a black man and y'all pulled me over for
some headlights in the daytime, and now you're trying to say, oh,
it's inclement weather, you need you need your headlights on
for inclement weather.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You're gonna have to show me that law.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Matter of fact, give me a supervisor, because I don't
think this is safe for me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You all misstate me for that law to tell you
whether or not the weather's bad. Right, it's not raining.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Only can you see it on camera, but even the
department acknowledges that it was not inclement weather.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Boom, thank you but for people that ask why didn't
he just comply? That's why the police are scary. The
police have been scary my whole life. There has never
been a time ever since I've been alive. And I
suspect there's a lot of people way older than me
there's never been a time in their lives when the
police were the good guys. Okay, I've seen police do
(19:01):
worse stuff than gang members. I've seen it happen. When
I was a little kid on the st on a
three way overpass.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I saw it happen. I told the story before, but
I saw the police pull.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Somebody out of the car at a red light and
then set him on the ground and take his head
when he's sitting on the ground and smash his head
into the side of a car. It was a white car,
and he dented his car with his head. I saw
it happen.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That video that you showed me with the protesters of
the chaplain, the person getting beat up is having their
face smashed into the com ground. Yeah, so this is
what I know. And this is the LAPD.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Remember them riots in ninety the riots, That's the LAPD
that I saw. So this idea just complied with the police. No,
the police are scary. Asking for a supervisor is definitely
on brand.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Okay, why didn't he rose window down?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
He said at the beginning of the traffic stop, the
window is broken, and the police video footage shows him
open the door and have a conversation with the officer initially,
and then once the officer started kind of bobbing and weaving, like, wait,
you're supposed to have headlights on.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Its rain and it's not raining, So you pulled me
over for the headlights. Well, yeah, you're supposed to any
inclement weather.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, listen, you're gonna have to get me a supervised
I don't know why you pulled me over. And then,
of course certain people are going to say, well, he
had a suspended license. People don't always know when their
license is suspended. Q, can you back me up?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And that's not why he got pulled over. No, not
at all.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
That's not even the reason that they're alleging he got
pulled over. They could have retroactively lied there and they didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
But you know, you helped me out. It is possible
to have a suspended license and not know it. Am
I right? Q, I had a suspended license? Plate and
didn't know it. Boom easy right now. I don't think
anybody would profess to say that Q is a criminal
or is deserving of the type of treatment we saw
on that video, and so forth and so on. And
(20:52):
the truth is the the officer at the press conference,
the black officer, and to be fair, there was a
black officer on the scene as well, also punching IM.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I'm glad you brought him up, Sheriff TK Waters there,
you go, talk to me. He is the boss that
he's everybody's boss. So I'm sure that the supervisor that
showed up wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Have been him. But considering he's everybody's boss, his opinion
is that no laws were broken in that stuff. Isn't
that crazy? In that crazy?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And we can see the video and they will distort
reality for enough of the population that want that distorted
reality where we don't need to hear.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Someone say it, Sagan, they just need to hear someone
say it. Are broken, that's it. What you see doesn't matter.
He said it.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So I say all this to say that I understand
your frustration. Q. If anybody does, You're never going to
be alone. I'm always going to be here for you
and support you, and I'm glad we get to at
least share these topics with our listeners because the hope
is that our listeners will help us create a better
world for all of us. But with that in mind,
(22:06):
at the end of our show this week, so thank
you for tuning in to Civic Cipher. I have been
your host, Rams's job.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And I am q Ward.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
We do not love how heavy this show has to be,
but these stories are the reasons that this show exists
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Someone has to tell the truth and we're going to
tell it.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And we appreciate you listening. We know that this is
You could be listening to people making you laugh. You
could be listening to people talking about culture and all
that sort of We used to do that, you know.
That was our fun job and we had to do
this because it was important.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
So we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
If you want to lock in what U story the week,
do so at Civic Cipher on all platforms.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You can get me at Rams's Job I am Qward
on all social media as well, And then until next week,
y'all piece
Keep on riding with us as we continue to broadcast
the balance and defend the discourse from the Hip Hop
Weekly Studios. Welcome back to Civic Cipher. I am still
your host, ramses Ja.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
He is Ramsay's Jaw. I am q Warden. You are
tuned in to Civic Cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Indeed you are, and we need to stick around because
we're not done yet. We are going to be talking
about the viral video you may have seen on your
socials of police smashing the window of a black driver
in Florida and then punching him in the face over
a headlight dispute and snatching him out of the car
(00:35):
and all the officers started yelling and stop resisting even
though he wasn't resisting, and beating him while he was
on the ground.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
So yeah, if you saw that video, we're going to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
About that, and we need you to buckle up because
that one's going to be the heavy one. That was
about as disturbing a video as I've seen, and it
wasn't even a video when somebody lost their life. So
not looking forward to it. But before we get there,
at his time right now, to Baba become a better ally,
Bob on today's Babba, we want to kind of share
(01:06):
an example of an ally in Greensboro, North Carolina. This
comes from Fox eight News. If you want to check
out the full story, check out myfoxeight dot com Love
when we get to use Fox. Democratic Governor Josh Stein
has vetoed three controversial bills that would roll back diversity,
equity and inclusion initiatives and impose new limits on transgender
(01:29):
rights in North Carolina. The legislation mirrors a broader national
movement champion by President Donald Trump to dismantled DEI efforts
in government, education, and business. One of the vetoed bills
would ban DEI related hiring practices in state and local agencies,
while another would restrict divisive concepts in public K through
twelve schools and universities.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
They're targeting specific minorities. That's a fact, unquote, Cameron Martin, said,
a graduate student in sociology at UNC Greensboro. But we're
not teaching our kids to be inclusive unquote. The third bill,
originally proposed to combat online sexual exploitation, was amended to
include a band on gender affirming care for incarcerated individuals
(02:11):
and new rules on birth certificates for transgender residents. Stein
criticized the Republican led General Assembly for prioritizing cultural war
legislation overpassing a state budget, saying in a statement that
the bills quote would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine
the quality of public services and public education.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Desmera Gatewood, program manager.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
At Democracy North Carolina said public reaction to the vetos
will likely vary.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's going to be interesting to see how people respond
to the governor. I think he does have a certain
level of support in different places regionally, in different demographics.
Debora Maxwell, president of the North Carolina INAACP, said the
measures threatened free speech and equity in public institutions. There
have been people going undercover record voring facility and getting
(03:01):
people fired for making positive DEI statements.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Unquote, Maxwell said.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So yeah, shout out to the governor of North Carolina
holding the line.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We appreciate you, all right. So Q, you saw the
video of.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
His name is William McNeil Junior. I think you're the
one who sent the video to me. Do you remember
the first thing I said to you when after I
saw it? I do not, okay, I remember saying and
You can correct me if I'm wrong, if this jog's
your memory, But I remember saying something like that that
(03:43):
like it was so disturbing. Even though we have had
to watch videos of people losing their lives. I don't
think anybody should, any any decent human beings should be
consuming content like that on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But this is the nature of the.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Work that we do, and we don't overwhelm ourselves out
just for people that care about Q and maize safety
and mental health and so forth.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
We do take terms when we.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Have to process traumatic videos and content to kind of
make heads or tails of it. But this one was
so disturbing to me, even though it wasn't someone losing
their life. And I think part of what I said
was the way that he looks into his camera. So
(04:37):
for folks that don't know, I'll get into the story
from the Black Information Network, but just let me paint
the picture of how this hit me. The gentleman is
sitting in his car. William McNeil Jr. He's sitting in
his car. He turns on his camera, starts recording, and
sets the camera on his dashboard so the camera's facing
him and you can see out of the driver's side window,
(04:57):
the police officer yelling through the window that he needs
to open the door, get out of the car, that
sort of thing, and William McNeill Jr. Is saying, I
asked for a supervisor. I want a supervisor, and get
a supervisor. I'm not getting out of my car. I'm
not doing any of that. Get me a supervisor. And
(05:19):
he's glancing at his camera while the officer pulls out
a baton and starts trying to break the window. And
the look on his face was a look of acceptance,
but not a not a positive acceptance, not a not
(05:44):
a okay, well, let's let this happen. It was more
of a heartbreaking type of acceptance. When the glass broke,
he kept looking at the camera. He didn't look away.
I'm sure that was very loud, have glass breaking right
next to you.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He didn't.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
He was an unmoved. He continued to look at the camera.
And then the first thing that happens is the officer
punches him through the open window, right in the face,
right in the jaw.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
And you see him.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Eat that punch like an adult man. Men have a
lot of strength. Punched him in the face overhand, right
with all his might, and he just ate it and
he kept looking at the camera and it was like,
it makes you want to cry. It makes you want
(06:35):
to cry. Man, It's just like it's is a very
disturbing video. And I remember having this moment with you Q,
and I was like, I wish I didn't see that, Like,
(06:56):
I know I have to. I know why you sent
it to me. I know that we both have to
and we both have to talk about it. You know,
why would God make us like this to endure this?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Like, it's just there's so much unfair about that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
That Does that jog your memory a little bit?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, it absolutely does not. Yeah, I wish I hope
that we get a chance to get to know our listeners.
We often talk about stories like this and you guys
will hear ramses chuckle. I promise that's not because it's funny.
And I know it's hard without context to place that
in a way. It's not satirical, it's not making light
of I can it to a trauma response because the
(07:49):
alternative is to break down into like voice trembling tears.
While trying to do this show, I saw that video
and it enraged me. And I've saw so many videos
since in the last few days that I was brought
to tears today in the middle of my day, surrounded
(08:10):
by strangers, in very very public view. But I could
not help myself because it is emotionally exhausting to have
this be our perpetual truth. You asked about God, and
it's very very hard to maintain belief and faith and
in higher power that would allow for the same group
of people to oppress, beat, kill, abuse, attack, murder, rape, kidnap, traffic,
(08:40):
the same other group of people for all of history.
And this karma that you speak of never shows up.
The fruit that should be born of planting these types
of seeds never happens. That harvest never shows. They reap chaos, violence, evil,
(09:09):
for all of history, the same victim, over and over again.
Once upon a time people gathered to see it, and
then for another amount of time people pretended that it
stopped happening. And here we are with people gathering to
see it again. And it's the highest rated show on television,
(09:31):
it's the highest clicked show on the Internet. And you
get outraged, and you get tears, and you get anger,
and you get heartbreak. But you don't get change, you
don't get progress, you don't get any sizable, reasonable shake
to the system. There's some payouts sometimes, but pennies. They
took that young woman's life in her bed. They gave
(09:53):
her family twelve million dollars as if that was supposed
to soothe their hurt. As they charged none of them
officers for killing her. This young man's face was not
just acceptance.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
It was like a goodbye, Yeah, that's it. It wasn't
like I'm about to get beat up. This is the end.
That's nothing I can do. This is the end, and
there's a thing I can do. So I have to
just accept that.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Because at four o'clock in the afternoon with no weather,
I'm being pulled over for not having my headlights on
an inclement weather, that's it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And then arrested for arrest for resisting arrest. So how
do we get here? Again?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
If I wasn't being arrested, how would I be resisting arrest?
So how am I being arrested for resisting arrest and
then beat and every officer getting their lick in. Let
me get my turn because they get off on it
because they can and nothing will happen. White supremacy has
(11:02):
never known how to hold white supremacy accountable. These systems
were set up to function this way, and now some people,
bless their hearts.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Think that it's wrong, but it's too late.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
The system has been allowed to function the way that
it does forever, and not enough people who aren't affected
by care enough for it to change. And this is
a both sides of the Ale discussion. None of you
have ever done anything to fix it. None of you,
(11:39):
I don't care whose name you interject, I don't care
whose name you insert, whose campaign you and certain none
of you have ever done enough to change it. The
guy in office now bullies through every piece of legislation
that he.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Wants, he doesn't care who agrees, and got.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Him to the point where now everybody just agrees, government
and private sector. So when we had the levers of power,
when we could bring about change, we did nothing. George
Floyd was a moment, and the whole world knew it
was a moment. You had the moral upper hand to
(12:21):
bring forth sweeping change, and you did nothing. And once
they saw another moment where the whole world was watching,
where the whole world agreed that something was wrong, and
nothing happened to them, not just business as usual, but worse.
(12:43):
And now they have the endorsement of the highest seat
in the land to displace harm, beat up, run over,
stomp on anyone that they disagreed with, anyone that they
deemed less than. And they understand that the worst that
will happen if they'll get reassigned. I just won't work
(13:03):
for this agency anymore. If I go to jail, I
might miss one of my kid's birthdays. What of your progress?
My time, my son's time, my father's time, his father's time.
(13:25):
You guys, keep accepting this as truth as you if
you want to, and keep hope alive to yourself, because
that's becoming very, very impossible for me to keep pretending
that I think things are going to get better for
who when where irresponsible to me as a father to
(13:49):
continue to let my family live their life in this
society where all of you have shown that we're not
worth anything to you. And man got his teeth knocked
out in a concussion for not having on his lights
in broad daylight, and even the police reports say that
(14:13):
there was no rain and no inclement weather. Yeah, so
let's let's as he still got charged by the way.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, no, I saw that.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Let's read this because I want to. I want to
make sure that this is stated for the record so
people know how to follow this part of the conversation.
Because you're you're right where we need you to be.
This from the Black Information Network. A black driver is
seeking justice after a Florida police officer broke his car
(14:45):
window and punched him in the face after he was
pulled over for not having his headlights on. The encounter
between William McNeil junior, twenty two and officers from the
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office unfolded during it February nineteenth traffic stop.
Viral video of the stop shows an officer asking me
neil why he was driving without headlights, to which the
driver said, there's no rain quote, it doesn't matter, You're
(15:06):
still required to have headlights on, unquote, the officer said.
The driver asked to see that law that is supposed
sorry that supported the officer's comment. The officer said he
would show it to him once he agreed to exit
his vehicle. McNeil asked the officer to contact his supervisor
before the police smashed his car. Carlindo exit the vehicle now,
(15:27):
Police said. An officer then punched McNeil in the face
and again ordered him to get out of the vehicle.
McNeil complied with an officer's order to show his hands.
Police proceeded to open his vehicle door and drag him
out of the vehicle before appearing to beat him to
the ground. Following the traffic stop, McNeil said he suffered
a chip too, stitches in his lips, a congussion, and
(15:48):
short term memory loss. Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters announced Sunday,
July twentieth that an internal investigation had been launched into
the virable incident.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
We are aware of a video circulating on social media
showing the traffic stop represented to be from February nineteen,
twenty twenty five. 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.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Unquote.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
McNeil has retained civil rights attorney Harry Daniels and Ben
Crump quote to help him fight for justice Following a
February nineteenth incident when jso officers Violin at least smashed
his window and punched him in the face multiple times
after he asked to speak to a supervisor unquote. His
legal team said in a statement, Okay, I also want
to add that there's another video of the incident, the
(16:37):
officer's body cam footage. If he didn't have this video
on his phone, we would have never known about this incident.
By the way, so if William McNeil Junior didn't record
put the phone on his dashboard, we'd never know about
this incident. So I want you to bear this in
mind that the times that this happens, You know how,
(16:58):
I think most people understand that black people, men especially
get pulled over more often than anyone else, Right, So
these types of things do happen. As we've seen based
on the video evidence. People don't always record their video evidence.
People don't always have clips in their car to hold
their phone up. People don't whatever. And in this video,
right after they took him out of the car, punched
(17:19):
him in the face of second time, slamming them on
the ground, the officer reaches in and turns his video off.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
You see that in the video.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Okay, So a lot of people will push back.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I want to say just a couple of things before
we get back to you.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
I hope we get back to but a lot of
people will say, well, why didn't he just comply? That's
obviously the number one go to for people.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
This video is proof of why simply complying with police orders,
particularly when it comes to step out of the vehicle,
is especially scary. Right, I don't want to get out
of my car at all. Please get your supervisor. I
want the boss here because y'all could be roided up angry.
(18:09):
You know, former high school bullies turned professional bullies, and
I'm a black man and y'all pulled me over for
some headlights in the daytime, and now you're trying to say, oh,
it's inclement weather, you need you need your headlights on
for inclement weather.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You're gonna have to show me that law.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Matter of fact, give me a supervisor, because I don't
think this is safe for me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You all misstate me for that law to tell you
whether or not the weather's bad. Right, it's not raining.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Only can you see it on camera, but even the
department acknowledges that it was not inclement weather.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Boom, thank you but for people that ask why didn't
he just comply? That's why the police are scary. The
police have been scary my whole life. There has never
been a time ever since I've been alive. And I
suspect there's a lot of people way older than me
there's never been a time in their lives when the
police were the good guys. Okay, I've seen police do
(19:01):
worse stuff than gang members. I've seen it happen. When
I was a little kid on the st on a
three way overpass.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
I saw it happen. I told the story before, but
I saw the police pull.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Somebody out of the car at a red light and
then set him on the ground and take his head
when he's sitting on the ground and smash his head
into the side of a car. It was a white car,
and he dented his car with his head. I saw
it happen.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That video that you showed me with the protesters of
the chaplain, the person getting beat up is having their
face smashed into the com ground. Yeah, so this is
what I know. And this is the LAPD.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Remember them riots in ninety the riots, That's the LAPD
that I saw. So this idea just complied with the police. No,
the police are scary. Asking for a supervisor is definitely
on brand.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Okay, why didn't he rose window down?
Speaker 1 (19:51):
He said at the beginning of the traffic stop, the
window is broken, and the police video footage shows him
open the door and have a conversation with the officer initially,
and then once the officer started kind of bobbing and weaving, like, wait,
you're supposed to have headlights on.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Its rain and it's not raining, So you pulled me
over for the headlights. Well, yeah, you're supposed to any
inclement weather.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, listen, you're gonna have to get me a supervised
I don't know why you pulled me over. And then,
of course certain people are going to say, well, he
had a suspended license. People don't always know when their
license is suspended. Q, can you back me up?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
And that's not why he got pulled over. No, not
at all.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
That's not even the reason that they're alleging he got
pulled over. They could have retroactively lied there and they didn't.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
But you know, you helped me out. It is possible
to have a suspended license and not know it. Am
I right? Q, I had a suspended license? Plate and
didn't know it. Boom easy right now. I don't think
anybody would profess to say that Q is a criminal
or is deserving of the type of treatment we saw
on that video, and so forth and so on. And
(20:52):
the truth is the the officer at the press conference,
the black officer, and to be fair, there was a
black officer on the scene as well, also punching IM.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I'm glad you brought him up, Sheriff TK Waters there,
you go, talk to me. He is the boss that
he's everybody's boss. So I'm sure that the supervisor that
showed up wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Have been him. But considering he's everybody's boss, his opinion
is that no laws were broken in that stuff. Isn't
that crazy? In that crazy?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
And we can see the video and they will distort
reality for enough of the population that want that distorted
reality where we don't need to hear.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Someone say it, Sagan, they just need to hear someone
say it. Are broken, that's it. What you see doesn't matter.
He said it.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So I say all this to say that I understand
your frustration. Q. If anybody does, You're never going to
be alone. I'm always going to be here for you
and support you, and I'm glad we get to at
least share these topics with our listeners because the hope
is that our listeners will help us create a better
world for all of us. But with that in mind,
(22:06):
at the end of our show this week, so thank
you for tuning in to Civic Cipher. I have been
your host, Rams's job.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
And I am q Ward.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
We do not love how heavy this show has to be,
but these stories are the reasons that this show exists
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Someone has to tell the truth and we're going to
tell it.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
And we appreciate you listening. We know that this is
You could be listening to people making you laugh. You
could be listening to people talking about culture and all
that sort of We used to do that, you know.
That was our fun job and we had to do
this because it was important.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
So we appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
If you want to lock in what U story the week,
do so at Civic Cipher on all platforms.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You can get me at Rams's Job I am Qward
on all social media as well, And then until next week,
y'all piece
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