Police officer hospitalized in Scottie Scheffler driving incident at PGA Championship
A Louisville police officer was hospitalized on Friday morning after getting dragged by Scottie Scheffler’s car, according to the arrest citation.
Scheffler was arrested after the incident, which occurred outside Valhalla Golf Club, and as the world’s No. 1 golfer was attempting to enter the course to prepare for the start of his second round.
Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officer directing traffic.
Scheffler was attempting to circumvent traffic that was caused by an unrelated fatal accident involving a shuttle bus.
“Detective Gillis was in the middle of the westbound lanes, in full LMPD uniform and a hi-visibility yellow reflective rain jacket,” the citation read. “Detective Gillis stopped subject and attempted to give instructions. Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground. Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee. He was transported to the hospital for further medical treatment by emergency medical personnel.”
Scheffler was taken into police custody, as seen in footage taken by ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, and booked into jail.
He returned to the course a little after 9 a.m. and in time for his 10:08 a.m. tee-off.
“This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do,” Scheffler said in a statement.
“I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I’m hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today.”
The incident occurred at 5:45 a.m., it was pitch dark and raining in the Louisville area.
Scheffler retained a local lawyer to help him through the situation.
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“In the confusion, Scottie is alleged to have disregarded a different officer’s traffic signals resulting in these charges,” his attorney, Steve Romines, said, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde.
“Multiple eyewitnesses have confirmed that he did not do anything wrong but was simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle. We will litigate this matter as needed and he will be completely exonerated.”
Darlington was behind Scheffler and watched the whole situation unfold.
“When he didn’t stop, the police officer attached himself to the vehicle, Scheffler then traveled another 10 yards before stopping the car. The police officer then grabbed at his arm, attempting to pull him out of the car before Scheffler eventually opened the door, at which point the police officer then pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs,” Darlington said on “SportsCenter.”
