The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it has launched an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding an incident that reportedly occurred in February, but was shown in a video posted to social media early Sunday morning.
In the video, JSO officers can be seen breaking a car window, hitting a man in his face, and pulling him out of his SUV during a traffic stop that the agency says is represented to have taken place on Feb. 19.
“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025,” JSO said. “We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.”
In the video, posted by 22-year-old WM Jr. and reviewed by News4JAX, M appears to be discussing why he was pulled over with an officer who is near his passenger side window.
According to M Jr., the incident took place around 4 p.m. while he was driving home. He said he was being pulled over because his headlights were off.
An arrest report from JSO says the incident occurred at about 4:17 p.m. and confirms that M Jr. was pulled over near Jacksonville’s Woodstock neighborhood because his vehicle “did not have its headlights or tail lights illuminated in inclement weather.”
The arrest report also state that McNeil Jr. became “verbally combative” with the arresting officer and that the officer asked him for his driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance, to which M Jr. replied, “call your supervisor.”
“The suspect refused to comply and shut the driver’s door and locked it. I gave numerous orders to the suspect to provide his identification, which he refused,” the arresting officer wrote in his report.
In the video, M Jr. told officers when they asked him to roll down his window that he couldn’t because his window didn’t work, which is why he initially opened the door during the traffic stop to speak to the first officer.
The video shows M Jr. asking another officer on the passenger side to pull out the law that he was told he had violated.
“There’s multiple people’s headlights off, first of all. And there’s no rain,” M says to the officer, who is off screen.
“It doesn’t matter, you are required to have your headlights on,” the officer replies.
“Can you pull that law up?” M asks.
The officer says, “When you step out of the car, I will.”
M Jr. then asks the officer for a supervisor, and the off-screen officer can be heard saying, “Go for it,” which is followed by a different JSO officer striking the driver’s side window three times and breaking it.
As the officer yells, “Exit the vehicle now! Exit the vehicle!” he can be seen striking M Jr. in the face once before asking him to show his hands.
M Jr. does not visibly react to the initial face punch and shows the officer his hands. The driver’s side door is then opened by the officer, and M’s seatbelt is unfastened as he asks, “What is your reasoning, sir?” before being pulled from his seat.
According to the arresting officer in his report, he writes that he told M that he was being placed under arrest for resisting an officer without violence and that McNeil “refused to exit the vehicle.”
“I gave the suspect several warnings that I was going to break the window and remove him from the vehicle if he did not comply with lawful commands. The suspect continued to refuse to comply, at which time I broke the driver’s window and opened the driver’s door,” the officer writes.
The video then appears to show an officer hitting M Jr. in the face again as multiple officers push him to the ground and yell out commands.
The arresting officer adds in his report that he believed M Jr. was reaching for a knife under his seat and was “continuing to pull away from officers” while refusing to place his hands behind his back, which required other officers to apply physical force.
The camera does not pick up what is happening to M Jr. as he is on the ground, but M Jr. can be heard saying, “What’s going on?” to which a JSO officer responds, “You’re under arrest, that’s what’s going on.”
M Jr. can also be heard saying, “You don’t have a lawful reason,” and “I’m just trying to have a regular conversation with y’all.”
It is unclear which JSO officers are speaking, but one can be heard saying, “That’s not how it works…When they ask you to step out of the vehicle, you should have done that s***.”
An officer also appears to ask M Jr., “So why close the door if you see him pull up?” M appears to respond, saying, “Because, man, what do you mean? He’s talking about arresting me and stuff, and I didn’t do anything wrong.”
News4JAX spoke with M, who, through his attorneys, permitted us to show the video that he posted to social media. The video can be found at the bottom of this story.
His attorney confirmed that M suffered injuries, including a chipped tooth and a concussion, and that he needed stitches and is suffering short-term memory loss.
M told us that after the incident shown in the video, he was taken to jail. Court records show that M was “adjudicated guilty” of resisting an officer without violence and driving on a suspended license.
The citations for not wearing a seat belt and driving without headlights in inclement weather appear to have been dismissed.
M was sentenced to two days in jail, which he had already served by the time of his arraignment.
News4JAX also contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about the video, and received the following response:
The video that preceded the statement by the sheriff was brought to our attention earlier today. As it is Sunday, those who are responsible for reviewing instances such as this are not in the office. I am not sure when or where this incident took place, or who is involved – the individual sitting in the driver’s seat or the officers shown.
As the sheriff stated, this incident and the circumstances surrounding what is shown in the released video will be reviewed to identify the questions you have asked below and more.
As soon as we have those answers, we will be able to share more. Spokesperson for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
State Rep. AN also posted to social media about the video, saying she is aware of it and has reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for more information.
“I’ll be sending a formal letter and request to meet about that, the deaths in the jail and other cases related to potential JSO misconduct,” N wrote.
Around 9 p.m., H D, a federal civil rights attorney, said on social media that he and high-profile attorney BC will be representing McNeil.
Attorney BC said, “It should be obvious to anyone watching this video that W M wasn’t a threat to anyone. He was calmly exercising his constitutional rights, and they beat him for it.”
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Source: news4jax
