Crazy-Glued Racism in Florida

A Black man who was punched in the face by a white Florida officer asks the DOJ to investigate
Deon J. Hampton
Tue, September 9, 2025


William McNeil Jr. on MSNBC's "PoliticsNation" on July 26. (MSNBC)

A 22-year-old Black man who was punched in the face by a white officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in Florida during a traffic stop is asking the Department of Justice to investigate the alleged assault.

Attorneys for William McNeil Jr. said in a letter Sunday to the DOJ's civil rights division that they believe he was wrongly pulled over and assaulted during the February encounter in Jacksonville, which was captured on video that went viral on social media.

“We respectfully request that the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division investigate as to whether the detention, arrest and use of force of Mr. McNeil violated the law,” attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump wrote.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that it could not comment on pending litigation.

The letter comes more than six weeks after McNeil released cellphone video of the arrest. He had been pulled over by officer D. Bowers and several other officers on Feb. 19 for allegedly driving without his headlights on during the day, the sheriff’s office said.

In the video, McNeil is seen sitting in his car, asking to speak with a sergeant. He says in the video that he was pulled over because his headlights were off even though it was daylight and not raining.

McNeil continued to sit behind the steering wheel with his seat belt fastened after being told by the officers to exit the vehicle. Still, McNeil asked to speak with a supervisor.

“Mr. McNeil exhibited reluctance to exit his vehicle due to apprehension,” Daniels and Crump wrote in the letter.

Moments later, the video shows Bowers breaking the driver’s-side window and punching McNeil in the face while instructing him to get out of the car and show his hands.

McNeil sits in his car as former police officer D. Bowers punches through the driver's-seat window during a traffic stop on Feb. 19. (William McNeil Jr.)

McNeil recorded the interaction on his cellphone, which was in a holder on his dashboard.

McNeil never filed a complaint with the department nor showed his video to authorities.

Bowers was later stripped of his duties, but Sheriff T.K. Waters said McNeil did not follow officers’ commands to get out of the car, which rose to the level of criminal resistance.

“The law requires that a person comply with a police officer’s command during a traffic stop. There are not options,” Waters said during a news conference in July. “Even if that person disagrees with that officer’s reason for the stop.”

The attorneys said in the letter that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office initiated 424 investigations concerning allegations of excessive use of force from 2022 to 2024, but only three were substantiated.

The state attorney’s office cleared Bowers and two other officers of any wrongdoing.

McNeil was arrested in connection with driving on a suspended driver’s license, resisting a police officer without violence and possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana. He eventually pleaded guilty to resisting a police officer and driving on a suspended license. The sheriff's office did not say what became of the marijuana allegation.