All charges against world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler were dropped Wednesday.
“I hold no ill will toward Officer [Bryan] Gillis. I wish to put this incident behind me and move on, and I hope he will do the same,” Scheffler said in a statement Wednesday. He was referring to the Louisville police officer who arrested him outside Valhalla Golf Club. “Police officers have a difficult job and I hold them in high regard. This was a severe miscommunication in a chaotic situation.”
According to ESPN, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell asked for the charges to be dismissed with prejudice. This means they can’t be filed again in the future.
“Based upon the totality of the evidence, my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr. Scheffler,” O’Connell said. “Mr. Scheffler’s characterization that this was a ‘big misunderstanding’ is corroborated by the evidence. The evidence we reviewed supports the conclusion that Detective Gillis was concerned for public safety at the scene when he initiated contact with Mr. Scheffler. However, Mr. Scheffler’s actions and the evidence surrounding their exchange during this misunderstanding do not satisfy the elements of any criminal offenses.”
Scheffler was not present at the hearing.
The golfer was arrested May 17 by Gillis who said Scheffler’s SUV accelerated and dragged him to the ground, causing pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee.
Scheffler “was trying to drive around traffic outside Valhalla Golf Club that had backed up after a man was struck and killed by a shuttle bus earlier that morning,” per the outlet.
Scheffler, 27, faced four charges, including felony second-degree assault of a police officer.
“We’ve been going back and forth since it happened,” Steve Romines, Scheffler’s attorney, told ESPN. “I had made it clear to them, as I’ve said, that it was not a negotiation. We were either going to litigate the case or it was going to be dismissed. They correctly came to the conclusion that there was not probable cause and the case should be dismissed.”
The evidence did not substantiate Gillis’ allegations that he was struck or dragged by Scheffler’s SUV.
“[Gillis] was not struck by Scottie’s car, and he was not drug by Scottie’s car,” Romines said. “So however he got to torn pants or a scrape on his knee didn’t have anything to do with Scottie Scheffler.”
Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel announced last Thursday that Gillis had been disciplined for not activating his bodycam video recorder during the incident.
“We respect the County Attorney’s decision, and we respect the judicial process,” the LMPD said in a statement.
