Key Takeaways:
- Ben Crump has joined the legal team representing William McNeil Jr. after his arrest by Jacksonville police.
- The viral video has prompted calls for an independent investigation and the officer’s termination.
- McNeil’s college community and family are speaking out, urging accountability and transparency.
Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump has joined the legal team representing William McNeil Jr., a 22-year-old Black college student whose violent arrest by Jacksonville officers went viral earlier this year. The incident, which occurred during a Feb. 19 traffic stop in Jacksonville, Florida, drew national attention after body camera and cellphone footage showed deputies breaking McNeil’s window and forcibly dragging him out of the vehicle.
McNeil, a biology major and marching band member at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, said he was pulled over for allegedly driving without his headlights on. When he asked officers why he was being stopped and requested a supervisor, tensions escalated. Officers ultimately shattered his window, struck him in the face, and dragged him to the pavement.
“I just really wanted to know why I was getting pulled over and why I needed to step of out the car when I know I didn’t do nothing wrong,” McNeil said. “I was really just scared.” Crump, speaking alongside other members of McNeil’s legal team, described the case as “a classic example of driving while Black.”
Ben Crump demands officer termination and blasts lack of state attorney accountability
During the press conference, Crump condemned what he called an abuse of power and urged Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters to terminate the officer involved. “You can’t justify this. You can’t condone this. You have to condemn this,” he said. “If you don’t terminate this officer and you condone this type of excessive police force, then it sends a message to all of the other police officers on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office team. It tells them, ‘It is okay for you to treat citizens like this.’”
The legal team also criticized the State Attorney’s Office for declining to file charges and for failing to interview McNeil during its investigation. “How can you determine there was no criminality without ever speaking to the victim?” Attorney Harry Daniels asked. “This was a whitewashing.”
Despite Sheriff Waters’ assertion that the officer’s actions were not criminal, McNeil’s lawyers argued that the available footage, including clips not released by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, shows excessive force. They said McNeil was allegedly held at gunpoint before his window was broken. He also suffered a concussion and permanent dental injuries. Crump emphasized that, had McNeil not recorded the encounter, the public would have been left with only the officers’ accounts. “Thank God he recorded that video,” Crump expressed.
Livingstone College and family members defend McNeil’s character as legal fight begins
Support for McNeil continues to build from his community. Livingstone College President Dr. Anthony J. Davis traveled to Florida to stand beside McNeil and described him as a selfless student with no criminal record. “A biology major who volunteers to play in the marching band… Will’s rights were violated, but he showed restraint, resolve, and resilience. That is the Blue Bear Way,” Davis said.
McNeil’s parents also spoke, praising their son’s faith, compassion, and mentorship of local youth. His mother, Latoya Solomon, said she could not bring herself to finish watching the arrest video until months later. “He’s my firstborn,” she said during the conference. “He’s also my only son.”
Although no civil suit has been filed yet, Crump confirmed that the legal team will “explore every possible legal remedy.”