Gov. Ron DeSantis thinks that a viral video of Jacksonville sheriffs smashing a black man's car window before punching him in the face was lacking context and pushing a "narrative," he claimed Wednesday.
"I heard that it was debunked," DeSantis said at a Jacksonville press conference, acknowledging that he hasn't personally watched the traffic stop video. "There's a desire to try to get views and clicks by creating division...Without even knowing any of the facts, I just know how this stuff works."
DeSantis responded to the viral Feb. 19 traffic stop video of William Anthony McNeil, Jr. The snippet—which has hundreds of thousands of views across social media platforms—filmed on McNeil's cell phone shows an officer smashing McNeil's driver's side window while yelling for him to "exit the vehicle."
The sheriff then punches McNeil in the face through the shattered window, still demanding he step out of the car.
Three officers pull McNeil from the car and handcuff him after a scuffle, charging him with resisting arrest. McNeil later said he suffered a concussion, chipped tooth, and needed nine stitches.
The video, though months old, sparked massive backlash as allegations of police brutality and racial profiling ran rampant. McNeil's legal team, which includes civil rights activist Ben Crump, released a statement demanding "full accountability" from JSO.
This prompted Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters—who is also black—to explain at a town hall earlier this week that context was missing.
“We're not running away from any of this stuff, this is about informing the public and letting people know what we’re doing in the agency,” said Waters. “Reasonable people, logical people that see an entire incident from beginning to end with context will understand a lot more took place there.”
He pointed to the full bodycam video, which shows that officers stopped McNeil for failing to put on his lights during "inclement weather." McNeil refuses to provide his license or registration, demands the arresting officer call his supervisor, then locks himself in his car with his windows up.
He's told repeatedly to step out of the vehicle or officers will break the window. McNeil refuses.
The Jacksonville Florida Times-Union reported that two days after his arrest, McNeil pleaded guilty to resisting police without violence and driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to two days already served in jail.
On Wednesday, DeSantis said that while he has "every confidence" in Waters to hold unruly officers accountable, this incident seems like an attempt to "create a narrative."
"I kind of heard about it, then I heard the response, and I'm like, 'yeah, that kind of checks out to me,'" DeSantis added.
