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The officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler has been disciplined for having his bodycam off

kelsey dallas
·2 min read
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Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. | Chris Carlson

The police officer who arrested golfer Scottie Scheffler last Friday ahead of Day 2 of the PGA Championship has been disciplined by the Louisville Metro Police Department — but not for disrupting Scheffler’s day.

Instead, Det. Bryan Gillis was penalized for failing to turn on his body camera.

“Detective Gillis did not have his body-worn camera operationally ready as required by our policy,” said Louisville police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villareal on Thursday, according to ESPN.

Even without body camera footage, Louisville Metro Police Department charged Scheffler with “second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic,” per ESPN, and those charges have not been dropped.

Scheffler will be arraigned on June 3 and his attorney has said that the world No. 1 golfer will plead not guilty.

“Our position is the same as it was last Friday,” said attorney Steven Romines on Thursday, according to ESPN. “Scottie Scheffler didn’t do anything wrong. We’re not interested in settling the case; we will either try it or it’ll be dismissed. It’s very simple. All the evidence that continues to come out just continues to support what Scottie said all along: This was a chaotic situation and miscommunication, and he didn’t do anything wrong.”

The charges stem from an interaction between Gillis and Scheffler early on Friday, May 17.

Gillis was helping to direct traffic after a bus accident led to the death of a man.

As Scheffler tried to make his way into Valhalla Golf Club, where the PGA Championship was held, Gillis attempted to stop him and then, once he’d stopped, placed him under arrest.

Scheffler has characterized their interaction as a “a big misunderstanding,” while Gillis filed a report saying that Scheffler broke the law, as the Deseret News previously reported.

Scheffler remained in the tournament and ended up finishing in a tie for eighth place.