Scottie Scheffler’s arrest: why was there no police body cam footage?

As we make our way toward the end of the 2024 PGA Championship, there is a fierce battle underway between Xander Schauffele and Colin Morikawa, but it may be that it’s Scottie Scheffler who will be the biggest talking point of the weekend following his arrest, subsequent return, and now a plot twist.

Louisville’s mayor addresses missing bodycam footage of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest

By now you would have seen multiple reports - including ours - about the the arrest of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Friday morning outside of the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. What you may not know, however, is that there has been no body cam footage provided by law enforcement officials, leaving many questions about exactly what happened and why. That said, Lousville’s mayor, Craig Greenberg has now moved to address the growing speculation about the issue.

“The officer did not have a body cam footage turned on during the incident. We will release the footage that we have,” Greenberg said on Saturday morning, according to local Louisville station WDRB. “We did not have any...to my knowledge. We have not discovered any video of the initial contact between Officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.” To be clear, Scheffler’s arrest continues to be a major topic of discussion and one that is mired in controversy and contrasting opinions. As far as confirmed details are concerned, what we know is that Scheffler was attempting to enter the Valhalla Golf Club, but was unable to do so due to a massive traffic jam which was caused by a fatal accident involving a pedestrian and a shuttle bus. It is understood that Metro Police Detective Bryant Gillis stopped Scheffler at the gate, at which point we’ve got a myriad of versions as to what exactly happened.

According to police, Scheffler “refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground.” On the other hand, Scheffler’s attorney has since stated that his client was “simply proceeding as directed. He stopped immediately upon being directed to and never at any point assaulted any officer with his vehicle.” As you can imagine, body cam footage would have ended any doubts about what happened immediately, whether in favor of Scheffler or Gillis. To that end, Greenberg offered further context by stating that Gillis either wasn’t wearing a body camera at the time or did not have it turned on, though he did allude to the idea that video taken from across the street would be released to the public. Interestingly, the police report does acknowledge the existence of said video. To date, Scheffler has been charged with four counts as a result of the altercation, including second-degree assault of a police officer which is in fact a felony. As per reports, he will be arraigned on Tuesday. As for golf, the 28-year-old entered Sunday’s play round some 6 strokes off the lead with -6.