Black driver beaten by Fla. cops: ‘I was fighting for my rights’

(NewsNation) — An attorney representing the Black driver seen in a viral video being dragged and punched by white police officers in Jacksonville, Florida, says he plans to file a lawsuit following the alleged racial profiling.

William McNeil Jr., 22, told “CUOMO” on Thursday he was standing up for himself in February when sheriff’s deputies pulled him over, ostensibly because he didn’t have his headlights on during inclement daylight weather and wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

In video shot from inside his vehicle, McNeil asks to speak to a supervisor before white police officers break through the driver’s side window. One of the officers strikes him in the face, and McNeil is pulled out and struck again before he is taken to the ground and arrested.

“I knew I wasn’t getting pulled over lawfully, so, I was fighting for my rights,” said McNeil, a biology student at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Florida incident gains sudden notoriety

The traffic stop that occurred early this year has only recently garnered attention after the footage went viral — so much so, that Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters this week released bodycam video of officers' encounter with McNeil.

Waters, who is Black, said an internal review was underway and one of the officers has been stripped of his police powers.

He said local prosecutors determined officers had not violated criminal law, but one of McNeil’s attorneys, Harry Daniels, said authorities did not even bother to interview his client. The Office of the State Attorney for the 4^th Judicial Circuit could not immediately be reached for a response.

“Our line is clear. We’re going to pursue justice for William. I’ve just filed a lawsuit,” Daniels told “CUOMO.” “This is happening too much in our nation, and especially in Jacksonville.”

Daniels later said in an email to NewsNation that the suit has not been filed, but said, “we plan on it.”

McNeil and his attorneys say the student suffered a broken tooth, a concussion and emotional trauma from the event.

Waters has said McNeil was charged with resisting a police officer without violence, driving on a suspended license and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He pleaded guilty to resisting police and the suspended license charges, published reports say.

Fla. sheriff to public: Keep open mind

The sheriff has urged the public to reserve judgment. His office now says that it will not release additional information about the incident because of potential legal action.

Meantime, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed support for Waters' department and said the video from McNeil’s vehicle was posted online to support a “narrative.”

“That’s what happens in so many of these things,” DeSantis said. “There’s a rush to judgment. There’s a desire to try to get views and clicks by creating division.”

Medaria Arradondo, the former police chief of Minneapolis at the time of George Floyd’s murder, said the recorded traffic stop may prove problematic for the Florida sheriff’s office, at least from the standpoint of community relations.

“Regardless of the administrative investigation outcome of this, what Sheriff Waters also has to be gauging right now is, how much trust has been eroded in that Jacksonville community?” Arradondo told “CUOMO.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.