New details of Scottie Scheffler incident emerge from ESPN’s Bob Wischusen: ‘Got very angry’
Was it a simple misunderstanding or something more?
Scottie Scheffler tried mostly downplaying the driving incident involving him and Detective Bryan Gillis as he tried to contend at the PGA Championship, despite getting arrested outside of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., hours before he teed off Friday morning.
The citation report from the Louisville Police Department described a much more frightening ordeal for Gillis, who had to go to the hospital after his run-in with the world’s No. 1 golfer.
ESPN’s Bob Wischusen, the Jets play-by-play voice for ESPN NY radio, was in a van along with Jeff Darlington, who documented Scheffler’s arrest on his phone and reported extensively on the events that day.
Wischusen stayed in the van but still had a view of the confrontation and provided new details and further context on the scene that shocked the sports world in an exclusive interview with Golf.com.
The longtime ESPN voice said Gillis approached Scheffler’s car as the vehicle pulled past the ESPN van on the left.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, who are you? Where are you going? Get back in line. You’re not allowed to come through here,” Wischusen said of Gillis’ initial interaction with Scheffler, 27.
After Scheffler pulled forward, what was described by Darlington as 10-20 yards, the situation escalated.
“When [Scheffler] drove past him, the cop got very angry pursuing the car. … My impression was he was kind of running alongside chasing the car, and maybe he tripped and fell,” Wischusen said.
“I mean, there was kind of an outcropping or median, you know, by the front gate. And keep in mind, it was raining. It was 6 o’clock in the morning. It was dark.”
Scheffler’s lawyer, Steve Romines, denied a report that the charges against the golfer would be dropped. The arraignment was postponed to June 3.
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Scheffler, who finished tied for the eighth at the PGA Championship, faces charges of second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from officer directing traffic.
The citation report from the police says Gillis got “dragged” by Scheffler’s vehicle and suffered wrist and knee injuries.
The citation conflicts with the witness accounts from Wischusen and Darlington, who said that Gillis “attached himself” to Scheffler’s car.
Gillis either was not wearing a body cam or it was not turned on, possibly making these eyewitness accounts a critical part of the case.
Wischusen, as of Friday night, said he has yet to be contacted by any legal teams.
“I would think they’d probably go to Jeff first, because (a) our version of the events are basically identical, and (b) he had more information than any one of us,” Wischusen said.
“He hopped out of the car and actually documented further what was happening and asked some questions and shot the video. My own speculation is that if neither side has contacted any of us, to me, that tells me that both sides are going to say this never should have happened. Let’s just all agree to let bygones be bygones. Cooler heads prevail.”
