A recently unearthed video from Scottie Scheffler’s arrest shows the PGA Tour star’s conversation with an officer while he was in the back of a police car, in which he says he didn’t stop his car because he didn’t know the man trying to stop him was a cop, and he was “shaking” after the cop “hit” him with his flashlight.
In the video, the world’s top-ranked golfer expressed fear over his interaction with Det. Bryan Gillis, who tried to stop Scheffler, 27, from advancing through traffic outside Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., on May 17 before the second round of the PGA Championship.
The video, which was posted to Facebook on Thursday, appears to be bodycam footage from a different officer than Gillis, who was given “corrective action” by the Louisville Metro Police Department for not having his bodycam on during the incident.
“My house is right up that road, so I was planning on getting here at 5:50 this morning to start my warmup for my tee time,” Scheffler says in the video. “I had to loop all the way around that way, took me about probably a half hour. So I’m pulling in here, the police officer up there told me to come the opposite way with the traffic and then come in. As I was pulling in, my window was down, and the officer told me to stop and as I was — first of all, I did not know that he was a police officer. I thought he was one of the security guards that was mistaken. And as I was pulling by him he grabbed my arm…”
The officer to whom Scheffler was speaking then cut him off and asked why it mattered if it was an officer or a security guard.
“You’re right. I should have stopped,” the two-time Masters champion replied. “I did get a little bit impatient because I’m quite late for my tee time. And as he was reaching in the car he grabbed my shoulder and hit me.”
“Trying to get you to stop, right?” the officer asked.
“Yes. It seemed to be a little overaggressive because the entrance was open and I pulled a little bit because I was afraid — I thought he was gonna start hitting me, and I didn’t know who he was,” Scheffler said. “He didn’t tell me he was a police officer. All I saw was the yellow jacket, I didn’t know what he was doing.”
The officer Scheffler was speaking to said Gillis was wearing the same yellow jacket he was that was labeled “police.”
“You took him with your car and drug him, which is not a good thing,” the cop said. “To make it even worse, when he asked you to get out of the car, you refused to get out of the car.”
Scheffler said he still wasn’t aware Gillis was a police officer and was looking around trying to find one. He said if he knew Gillis was a cop he would’ve been “less afraid.”
“Panic kind of set in,” Scheffler said. “As you can see, I’m still shaking because I was afraid. I didn’t know who he was. He didn’t say, ‘Police, get out of the car.’ He just hit me with his flashlight and yelled ‘Get out of the car.'”
Scheffler later admitted he “should have stopped.”
The officer said Gillis had “a huge scrape on his knee” and a “big bruise,” and that it was up to him whether Scheffler was going to jail.
Scheffler, the reigning Masters winner, was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officers directing traffic.
His arraignment was postponed to June 3.
Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell is set to address the charges against Scheffler Wednesday at 1 p.m., and Scheffler’s lawyer, Steve Romines, is scheduled to speak afterward.