Scottie Scheffler is said to have told fellow inmates it was ‘bulls***’ that he was in jail after his arrest outside the PGA Championship on Friday.
Scheffler was arrested on Friday morning, with stunning footage showing him being taken to jail in handcuffs for failing to comply with police orders during an investigation into pedestrian fatalities.
In the span of four hours, the world’s top-ranked golfer was arrested while wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, dressed in an orange prison shirt for his mug shot, stretched out in a prison cell to keep loose and returned to Valhalla Golf. Club dressed and ready for his 10:08am start time.
Louisville Metro Police said Scheffler was booked on four charges, including second-degree assault on a police officer after his vehicle dragged an officer to the ground.
Scheffler said the incident was a “major misunderstanding in the midst of a chaotic situation,” but a man locked up with Scheffler on Friday has gave some details about their time in custody to TMZ.
Scottie Scheffler told fellow inmates it was “bulls***” that he was in jail on Friday
Remarkable footage showed the two-time Masters winner being led into a police car
He was detained in handcuffs by police outside Valhalla Golf Club on Friday morning
The man didn’t even know who Scheffler was until a police officer said, “You know you’re talking to the number one golfer in the world, right?”
“He kept saying it was bullshit that he was there,” the man added.
It is also claimed that Scheffler attracted a large crowd to the prison as staff and officers all tried to catch a glimpse of the reigning Masters champion.
On Saturday, Scheffler’s lawyer insisted that the world number 1 will appear in court to clear his name if charges of assaulting a police officer are not dropped.
Scheffler is confident the case will be resolved “fairly quickly” ahead of his scheduled arraignment in court in Louisville on Tuesday.
But his legal team is adamant it is not about accepting a plea deal, saying they will fight any attempt to blame the golfer during the early hours.
Scheffler’s attorney Steve Romines said, “They will either be dropped or we will go to trial because Scottie did nothing wrong.” So we’re not interested in any kind of settlement negotiations or anything like that. It was just a big miscommunication.”
The 27-year-old was accused of failing to stop for police as he tried to gain entry to Valhalla Golf Club at a time when they were directing traffic following a fatal collision between a bus and a member of security staff of the tournament. , John Mills.
According to the police report, Scheffler ignored instructions and then drove away from an officer, Bryan Gillis, causing him to be dragged by the two-time Masters winner’s car.
Scheffler is accused of injuring Detective Bryan Gillis (pictured) by accelerating his car
After performing well on Friday following his arrest, Scheffler fell down the rankings on Saturday
While Scheffler has declined to discuss the specifics of the incident that led to his dramatic arrest and required him to warm up for the second round in the jail cell, Romines has provided new details.
He said: ‘There had been a road fatality further up the road and so there were different directions of traffic and traffic controllers advised different things. Scottie was advised by an officer to go around traffic and turn left into the facility.
‘But the officer who charged him apparently didn’t know that. So that’s where the miscommunication happened.
‘It was kind of a perfect storm. One thing should be clear: he did not drive through an accident scene or through any investigation. None of that happened.’
The charges against Scheffler were listed by local police as second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disobeying an officer’s traffic signals.
It remains to be seen whether the charges will be dropped, although Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg has stated that there was no bodycam footage leading up to the 6:01 a.m. arrest.
“The officer had not turned on bodycam footage during the incident,” he said.
“We will release any footage we have (but) to my knowledge, we have not yet discovered any video of the initial contact between Officer Gillis and Mr. Scheffler.”
The mayor declined to comment on the possibility of Scheffler being acquitted. “At this time the matter is in the hands of our prosecutor and I will allow the legal process to proceed,” he said.