Scottie Scheffler's Louisville legal battle ends with all charges dropped

The criminal case against Scottie Scheffler has concluded with all charges dismissed, including a felony for assaulting a police officer with his vehicle.

Ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course, the Louisville Metro Police Department were on the scene directing traffic following a pedestrian death. When Scheffler arrived in a PGA courtesy car looking to gain entry, he was stopped and arrested.

Detective Bryan Gillis, the arresting officer, claimed that Scheffler had “refused to comply and accelerated forward” at the gates of Valhalla. Further surveillance video released last week by the LMPD showed Gillis stopping Scheffler but did not appear to support the notion that he was dragged by the golfer’s vehicle.

Gillis did not have his body camera activated during the arrest and has been disciplined for failing to do so.

In a hearing that lasted under 10 minutes, Jefferson County attorney Mike O’Connell read out a statement in court asking the judge to drop all four charges against Scheffler.

“Based upon the totality of the evidence, my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr. Scheffler," O'Connell said.

"Mr. Scheffler’s characterisation that this was ‘a big misunderstanding’ is corroborated by the evidence.”

More video has emerged in the past 24 hours of Scheffler speaking with an unidentified police officer following his arrest – in it, the 27-year-old can be heard admitting he was in a hurry due to being late for his tee time.

“As he was reaching into the car, he grabbed my shoulder and hit me. It seemed to be a bit overaggressive as the entrance was open. I pulled over because I was afraid he was going to start hitting me and I didn’t know who he was, he didn’t tell me he was a police officer, all I saw was the yellow jacket,” Scheffler said.

“Believe me sir, if I knew he was a police officer, I would’ve been much less afraid but panic set in. As you can see, I’m still shaking, I didn’t know who he was. He didn’t say ‘police, get out of the car,’ he just hit me with his flashlight and yelled ‘get out of the car.’”

When questioned outside court by a reporter over why Scheffler’s original statement had agreed with the notion that he had dragged Detective Gillis, his attorney Steve Romines responded bluntly.

“Here’s what happened – he (Scheffler) is being interrogated after the most stressful situation of his life, and an office is actually asking him leading questions in trying to get him to agree,” said Romines.

“They are trying to get him to confess to something he didn’t do, and the video evidence shows he didn’t do it.”

Scheffler’s attorney also told the media there were grounds for a potential lawsuit to be filed against the LMPD, but the World No. 1 golfer would prefer to completely put the saga behind him.