DUBLIN, Ohio — Although he didn’t want to do it, Scottie Scheffler said that, on the advice of legal counsel, he was prepared to take action against the Louisville Police Department if charges arose from a May 17 traffic incident while attempting reaching The PGA Championship was not lost.
Scheffler, who will play in this week’s Memorial Tournament, spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time since charges were dropped last Thursday. He faced four charges, including a felony, for the incident outside Valhalla Golf Club that led to his arrest.
“That was something that if we needed to use it, I think Steve was more than ready to use it, simply because, like I said, there was a ton of evidence in our favor,” Scheffler said, referring to his Louisville attorney, Steve. Romines. “There were eyewitnesses at the scene who corroborated my story and the video evidence, the police officer spoke to me afterwards.
“All the evidence pointed to exactly what my side of the story was, so if we needed… I don’t really know how to describe it, but basically, if I had to go to court, I think Steve was more than prepared to take legal action.” .
“But at the end of the day, I didn’t want to have to take legal action against Louisville because the people of Louisville are going to have to pay for the mistakes of their police department, and that just doesn’t seem right. So at no point did I want to sue them, but if push came to shove, I think my lawyer was more than prepared to use it more as a bargaining chip than anything else.”
A pedestrian, John Mills, was hit and killed by a bus while on his way to work at the tournament around 5am, causing a massive police presence and traffic jams.
Players and officials were allowed into the entrance to Valhalla Golf Club, but Scheffler collided with police officer Bryan Gillis, who ordered Scheffler to stop and ended up arresting the golfer after he was said not to follow the rules. orders. Scheffler maintained that he did not know the reason for the traffic problems.
Among the charges were felony: second-degree assault on a police officer; Gillis alleged in his police report that Scheffler dragged him while asking him to stop the car.
Later video shows Scheffler being interviewed in a car by another officer and saying “he was hitting me with his flashlight” and, although he admitted he should have stopped, he believed Gillis was “too aggressive.”
Within minutes, Scheffler was arrested, handcuffed and taken to a local jail, where he awaited his fate. Tee times for the second round were delayed due to the death, and Scheffler returned to the course less than an hour before it began, shooting 66 before being knocked out of competition on Saturday. He finished tied for eighth place.
He played the following week in the Charles Schwab Challenge, where he finished second, and only then did he begin to feel that the matter would be resolved.
“I would say I still wouldn’t be 100 percent over it because the charges were dropped, but still, it’s almost more appropriate now for people to ask me about this and ask me about the situation and, to be honest, with you, I don’t It’s something I like to relive, simply because it was quite traumatic for me to be arrested upon entering the golf course,” Scheffler said.
“So it’s not something I love to talk about and it’s something I hope to get over, but when the charges are dropped, that’s just the beginning of getting over it, if that makes sense. So we’re operating through that now. It was definitely a little bit of a relief, but not a total relief because it’s something that will always stick with me.
“I’m sure that mugshot isn’t going away anytime soon.”
In a lighter moment, Scheffler was asked if he had ever received a parking ticket or any type of traffic violation before the Louisville incident.
“I’ve gotten a couple speeding tickets,” Scheffler said. “My dad used to make fun of me because I had… my dad is very good with words, and if he is… I’ve seen him get pulled over a couple of times and not get a ticket. I’ve been stopped a couple of times and I’m fighting 100% to get tickets.
“So, yeah, I’ve gotten a few speeding tickets, maybe a parking ticket. I don’t remember the last time I was in a fight or anything like that.
“I think that’s also part of the recovery process of the whole scenario: your brain tries to figure out how this happened, and I’ll probably never figure out why or how it happened, but it’s just one of those agreements that will always be ingrained in my season this year, but eventually people will forget it.
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