One young man’s dreams of unearned riches may be in vain.
The finding of the State Attorney’s Office that he was not the victim of a crime while he was breaking the law may dim William McNeil, Jr.’s chances of winning the litigation lottery.
McNeil was driving away from a suspected drug house on Jacksonville\s westside last February when an officer from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office pulled over McNeil’s car.
The officer told McNeil that he was being stopped because his car’s headlights were not on and he was not wearing his seat belt.
McNeil was asked to produce his driver’s license, but he refused to provide it as required by law. Strike One.
McNeil asked for a supervisor. Police are not required to call a supervisor to a traffic stop and the officer declined to do so, then ordered McNeil to step out of the car.
McNeil refused. Strike Two.
The officer warned he would break the window, and then broke the window as McNeil continued to resist. He attempted to remove McNeil from the car, while ordering him to show his hands, and slapped and punched McNeil when he did not.
There was a large knife within McNeil’s reach.
McNeil continued to resist arrest. Strike Three.
Police eventually got McNeil out of the car and searched him, finding drugs and drug paraphernalia. Strike Four.
Five months later — perhaps after seeing ubiquitous TV ads by lawyers — McNeil posted a video of the arrest on the Internet.
But, State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office said, the video does not tell the whole story.
Instead of obeying 12 lawful commands made by the officer, McNeil chose to argue and resist.
That is a common mistake lawbreakers make.
The only debatable issue, really, was the punch in the face McNeil received. Nelson’s office said it “occurred during McNeil’s arrest and was in response to McNeil’s physical resistance to the arrest.”
The sheriff’s office has not concluded an internal investigation, and it could find that the office violated policy, or it might not.
But, having lawyered up, McNeil is threatening to file a lawsuit, which has gotten him extensive media coverage. His bombastic lawyers are making loud noises about the “violent” arrest of their client but have not yet filed a suit. Such suits often produce generous settlements from government agencies, and on rare occasions enrich the litigants – and their lawyers – substantially (at the taxpayers’ expense). McNeil also has created a GoFundMe account and has collected more than $21,000.
Many videos can be found on the Internet depicting people who choose to argue with the police and to disobey lawful commands. When arrested they often begin threatening to file lawsuits before they even reach jail.
Some have fallen for the “sovereign citizen” scam. They buy fake legal scripts from online fraudsters that they think will make them immune from the law. Others simply think they know the law when they don’t and make the unwise decision to argue the case on the side of the road rather than in court.
