{"id":81179,"date":"2025-07-21T17:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/81179\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:37:12","slug":"jacksonvilles-naacp-calls-for-immediate-answers-from-sheriff-waters-after-viral-video-of-violent-jso-traffic-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/81179\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville\u2019s NAACP calls for \u2018immediate answers\u2019 from Sheriff Waters after viral video of violent JSO traffic stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 The Jacksonville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spoke out on Monday about a viral video showing a Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office traffic stop that turned violent<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a>, the NAACP said it has \u201cthoroughly reviewed the viral video\u201d of the February incident that shows JSO officers breaking William McNeil Jr.\u2019s driver\u2019s side window, hitting him in his face, and pulling him out of his SUV during the traffic stop after he asked to speak to a supervisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are calling for immediate answers from Sheriff TK Waters,\u201d the organization wrote. \u201cThis troubling behavior from law enforcement highlights the very reasons why many African Americans, especially African American men, feel fear during traffic stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>High-profile civil rights attorneys to represent man at center of viral video showing violent JSO traffic stop<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In the video, posted by McNeil Jr., 22, and reviewed by News4JAX, McNeil appears to be discussing why he was pulled over with an officer who is near his passenger side window.<\/p>\n

Watch the video in the player below<\/b><\/p>\n

An arrest report from JSO says the incident occurred at about 4:17 p.m. and confirms that McNeil Jr. was pulled over near Jacksonville\u2019s Woodstock neighborhood because his vehicle \u201cdid not have its headlights or tail lights illuminated in inclement weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrest report also states that McNeil Jr. became \u201cverbally combative\u201d with the arresting officer and that the officer asked him for his driver\u2019s license, registration and proof of insurance, to which McNeil Jr. replied, \u201cCall your supervisor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the video, McNeil Jr. told officers when they asked him to roll down his window that he couldn\u2019t because his window didn\u2019t work, which is why he initially opened the door during the traffic stop to speak to the first officer.<\/p>\n

The video shows McNeil Jr. asking another officer on the passenger side to pull out the law that he was told he had violated.<\/p>\n

McNeil Jr. then asks the officer for a supervisor, and the off-screen officer can be heard saying, \u201cGo for it,\u201d which is followed by the officer on the driver\u2019s side striking the window three times and breaking it.<\/p>\n

As that officer yells, \u201cExit the vehicle now! Exit the vehicle!\u201d he can be seen striking McNeil Jr. in the face with a closed fist once before asking him to show his hands.<\/p>\n

McNeil Jr. does not visibly react to the initial face punch and shows the officer his hands. The driver\u2019s side door is then opened by the officer, and McNeil\u2019s seatbelt is unfastened as he asks, \u201cWhat is your reasoning, sir?\u201d before being pulled from his seat.<\/p>\n

The video then appears to show an officer hitting McNeil Jr. in the face again as multiple officers push him to the ground and yell out commands.<\/p>\n

The camera does not pick up what is happening to McNeil Jr. as he is on the ground, but McNeil Jr. can be heard saying, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d to which a JSO officer responds, \u201cYou\u2019re under arrest, that\u2019s what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arresting officer wrote in his report that he told McNeil that he was being placed under arrest for resisting an officer without violence and that McNeil \u201crefused to exit the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

JSO acknowledged the video on Sunday, saying the agency has launched an internal investigation<\/a> into the circumstances surrounding the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025,\u201d JSO said. \u201cWe hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil Jr. hired nationally renowned civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels and Ben Crump.<\/p>\n

Daniels told News4JAX on Monday that McNeil suffered injuries, including a chipped tooth and a concussion, and that he needed stitches and is suffering short-term memory loss.<\/p>\n

McNeil said that after the incident shown in the video, he was taken to jail. Court records show that McNeil was \u201cadjudicated guilty\u201d of resisting an officer without violence and driving on a suspended license.<\/p>\n

The citations for not wearing a seat belt and driving without headlights in inclement weather appear to have been dismissed.<\/p>\n

McNeil was sentenced to two days in jail, which he had already served by the time of his arraignment.<\/p>\n

The NAACP urged Waters to release the full body camera footage of the incident to ensure \u201cfull transparency for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge Sheriff Waters to take prompt and decisive action against these officers without delay,\u201d the NAACP said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spoke…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,8423,47284,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-81179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jso","13":"tag-naacp","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114892442429381872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}