Three Louisville Metro police officers did not activated body cameras during the arrest of golfer Scottie Scheffler near Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky on May 17 and this violated the policy. Scheffler was arrested in conviction for refusing to stop while on his way to a golf tournament and dragging a police officer. The detectives named Bryan Gillis, Kelvin Watkins and Officer Javar Downs failed to turn on their bodycam during arrest.
Scheffler of age 27 years was driving to the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky for a tournament after arriving at the scene of a fatal crash around 6 a.m. He then hit and injured a police officer after which he got detained and then arrested. Gills, the police officer while directing traffic, observed a vehicle traveling in opposing lanes and said, “I stopped the driver and advised him he could not proceed because of the bus. He demanded to be let in, proceeded forward against my directions. I was dragged/knocked down by the driver. I then proceeded to arrest the driver.”
All the charges put on Scheffler were rejected less than two weeks after his arrest. “Detective Gillis should have had his issued BWC powered on and at least in standby mode,” the Body-Worn Camera Failure to Record Form stated. It later added, “he failed to comply with powering it on.”
Detective Watkins said in a statement, “My bodycam was activated after I realized that this was a potential problem,” he said in the statement. “My view was blocked by a bus,” he said.