The Louisville Metro Police detective whose confrontation with the world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, landed Louisville in international headlines last week was “counseled” by his supervisor over his failure to use an activated body camera during the encounter, LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a press conference Thursday.
“Detective [Bryan] Gillis should have turned on his body-worn camera but did not. His failure to do so is a violation of LMPD policy,” the chief said.
She added the “corrective action” was noted on a “performance observation form.”
Scheffler was stopped early Friday morning as he tried to enter Valhalla Golf Club to compete in the PGA Championship.
According to an arrest citation, Scheffler was driving eastbound in a marked PGA player vehicle toward Gate 1 when he pulled into a westbound lane, “where outbound traffic was flowing,” to bypass the backup caused by an earlier fatal collision.
Gillis was “in the middle of the westbound lanes, in full uniform and a hi-visibility yellow reflective rain jacket,” when he stopped Scheffler and “attempted to give instructions,” the citation said.
LMPD alleged Scheffler “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground. Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee.”
Scheffler, who has since called the incident a “big misunderstanding,” and competed in the tournament later that day, is charged with second-degree assault of a police officer — a felony that carries years of prison time — as well as third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.
His arraignment is scheduled for June 3.
Though LMPD policy requires officers to activate their body cameras “prior to engaging in all law enforcement activities and encounters,” Gillis did not have recorded footage of the confrontation.
Officers are excused from activating their devices only if their assigned camera is “docked for uploading following a tour of duty.”
If an officer finds themselves “involved in a sudden and unanticipated incident where exigent safety concerns prevent the immediate activation of” their body camera, they are to activate it “at the first opportunity, when it is safe to do so, in order to capture the immediate aftermath of the situation.”
Responding to a question from The Courier Journal at a press conference on Tuesday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said he had “questions” about why there was no body-camera footage of the encounter available, particularly of the arrest itself.
Neither Gwinn-Villaroel nor Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg took any questions at Thursday morning’s press conference on the high-profile arrest.
Greenberg said video was captured by a fixed pole-mounted camera across the street from the incident, and that video, along with some dash-cam video, was to be released soon after the press conference Thursday.
This story will be updated.
Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: LMPD officer in Scottie Scheffler arrest violated body camera policy
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