Louisville Police Chief announces discipline for Scottie Scheffler arresting officer, reason for no body camera footage

In a media briefing Thursday morning, Louisville police chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel said the officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler was disciplined for not turning on his body camera.

Villaroel told reporters: “Detective (Bryan) Gillis should have turned on his body-worn camera, but did not. His failure to do so is a violation of the LMPD policy on uniforms and equipment . . . He was performing a law-enforcement action as defined in our policy. . . . We understand the seriousness of the failure to capture this interaction, which is why our officer has received corrective action for this policy violation.”

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that there is footage from two video cameras. There is a clip from a dash cam of a police car and one that was taken by a camera atop a poll across the street from where the arrest took place.

The Louisville police chief did not take questions at the media briefing. After the press conference, the Louisville police dropped this video on the department YouTube channel.

Scheffler will return to Louisville for a hearing on June 3. He’s currently back home in Texas competing in The Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Golf Club in Fort Worth. Scheffler is set to tee off at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.

Last Friday, Gillis arrested Scottie Scheffler following a traffic incident outside Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Scheffler, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, was attempting to drive into the club a few hours before he was set to start the second round of the PGA Championship.

It was an unusual and tragic morning for Valhalla. A vendor working the tournament was struck and killed on the main road outside the club. The incident occurred before sunrise Friday. As a result, traffic was backed up for a mile in both directions. There was rain, fog and lots of police lights to add to the confusion about what to do for parking.

Scheffler, who was driving a tournament-sponsored car marked with PGA-competitor credentials, was in the long line at about 6 a.m. He attempted to drive past a policeman (Gillis), who yelled for him to stop. The policeman apparently lunged at Scheffler’s SUV. According to the arrest affidavit, Gillis fell and injured his wrist and ripped his pants.

Gillis arrested Scottie Scheffler. He was booked at 7:28 a.m. He was charged with assault, as well as third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.