Mayor: No body cam footage of Scheffler arrest

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Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city doesn’t have body camera footage of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest Friday.

“The officer did not have body cam footage turned on during the incident,” Greenberg said, per The Courier Journal and WDRB. “We will release footage that we have … to my knowledge, we have not yet discovered any video of the initial contact between Officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.”

Louisville police arrested Scheffler outside of Valhalla Golf Club after the world No. 1 golfer attempted to get through a traffic backup caused by a shuttle bus striking and killing John Mills, a local man working the PGA Championship for a tournament vendor, earlier in the morning.

Scheffler, according to the arrest report, was traveling eastbound when he attempted to steer his black Range Rover courtesy car into the westbound lane. Detective Bryan Gillis tried to stop the vehicle but Scheffler continued forward, according to the report, “dragging Detective Gillis to the ground” and causing injuries that required medical treatment.

Authorities arrested Scheffler and took him to the local precinct, where he was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Greenberg said he wasn’t certain that Gillis was wearing a body camera but there is footage from a fixed camera across the street from where Scheffler was arrested. The mayor said that footage will be released in the future, per WDRB.

After being released from jail, Scheffler returned to the course less than an hour before his 10:08 a.m. tee time. He ate a quick breakfast in the clubhouse and had a shortened practice session at the driving range before teeing off.

Scheffler finished the second round of the PGA Championship with a 5-under 66 and attended a packed news conference. He called the interaction that led to his arrest a “chaotic situation” and a “big misunderstanding,” saying he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the incident.

“I came here for a golf tournament,” Scheffler said. “I was driving in this morning, trying to get to my warmup time and get ready for the round of golf. I didn’t really have an understanding of what had transpired this morning.”

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(Photo: Clare Grant / Courier Journal / USA Today)