Scottie Scheffler In The Clear After Jefferson County Attorney Drops All Charges Against PGA Tour Star
Prior to the second round of the PGA Championship two weeks ago, the world's #1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested by Louisville PD. He was charged with four offenses, including felony second degree assault of a police officer.
Scheffler maintained that the incident occurred due to a "big misunderstanding" and was very complimentary of police despite the arrest. On Wednesday, the Jefferson County attorney's office declined to pursue any of the charges against Scheffler.
"Based upon the totality of the evidence, my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges against Mr. Scheffler," said Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell. "Mr. Scheffler's characterization that this was ‘a big misunderstanding’ is corroborated by the evidence.
"Mr. Scheffler's actions and the evidence surrounding [the exchange with Detective Gillis] during this misunderstanding do not satisfy the elements of any criminal offenses."
Scheffler put out a statement via an Instagram story that called the incident an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and expressed "no ill will" toward officer Gillis.
A video was posted to Facebook on May 23, but only became widely shared earlier Wednesday morning. The video shows Scheffler's conversation with another police officer – not Detective Bryan Gillis, with whom Scheffler had the "misunderstanding – about the incident.
Scheffler explains to the officer that Gillis "grabbed [his] shoulder and hit [him]," which is why Scheffler attempted to drive away. Furthermore, Scheffler said Gillis' actions "seemed a little bit over-agressive" and that Gillis did not announce to Scheffler that he was a police officer.
The officer speaking to Scheffler said that the PGA Tour star dragged Gillis with his car, to which Scheffler agreed.
"You actually hurt him, and he's a police officer," the officer explained. "He's got a scrape on his knee [and] … a big bruise."
Despite that, it appears this incident is in the rearview mirror for Scheffler. Scheffler battled through the arrest to shoot a 66 on Friday, but struggled on Saturday and essentially took himself out of contention.
He bounced back with a strong Sunday to finish with yet another Top 10 in a major championship. Scheffler also played in last week's Charles Schwab Challenge and finished in a tie for second place after a brutal Thursday round.
He is not in the field for the Canadian Open this weekend, as he takes a week off to prepare for a big stretch in the PGA Tour schedule. Next week is the Memorial Tournament – a signature event – followed by the U.S. Open – the third major of 2024 – and then the Travelers Championship – another signature event on the PGA Tour.
Updates with statements from Scheffler and the Lousiville Police Department