By Dan Mangan
Kentucky prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all criminal charges against golf champ Scottie Scheffler related to his controversial arrest May 17 as he tried to drive into the club hosting the PGA Championship in Louisville.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr. Scheffler,” Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell told a judge.
O’Connell also said, “Mr. Scheffler’s characterization that this was, quote, ‘a big misunderstanding,’ unquote, is corroborated by the evidence.”
While the arresting officer, Louisville police detective Bryan Gillis, was concerned about public safety at the scene when he stopped Scheffler, the prosecutor said, “Mr. Scheffler’s accounts and the actions surrounding the exchange during this exchange do not satisfy the elements of any criminal offense.
Scheffler, 27, who is the world’s top-ranked golfer, had faced charges of felony assault on a police officer and reckless driving in the case.
The charges were dropped a week after videos were released by Louisville authorities that captured the moments around Scheffler’s arrest by Gillis who objected to him driving around a line of traffic to enter the Valhalla Golf Club. Gillis claimed in his arrest report that Scheffler initially refused to stop.
The arrest, which was witnessed by an ESPN reporter, was immediately controversial because Scheffler had been waved around the cars by security at the scene, where police were responding to an earlier accident involving a shuttle bus that struck and killed a pedestrian.
Scheffler was not aware of the accident when he was told to drive around the backup, O’Connell told a judge.
“We are obviously … pleased with the result,” Scheffler’s attorney Steve Romines told reporters after the court hearing where the charges were dismissed.
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This article originally appeared here and was republished with permission.
