Video of Scottie Scheffler arrest at PGA Championship corroborates nothing from police report

The 2024 PGA Championship was thrown into upheaval in the early hours of Friday morning when the reigning Masters champion and No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested trying to enter Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. The incident, which occurred in a traffic backup after a vendor was struck by a vehicle in a sadly fatal accident earlier in the morning, sent shockwaves through the golf world.

Scheffler, who was released later that morning on bail and made his second-round tee time, was charged with Second Degree Assault involving a Police Officer, Criminal Mischief in the Third Degree, Reckless Driving, and Disregarding Signals from Officers Directing Traffic. His initial court date was set for this week but that was pushed back to June 3 as the investigation continued.

As part of the investigation, available video of the incident involving Scheffler and Louisville Metro PD Detective Gillis was released as part of a hearing on Thursday. The video was from a police vehicle dashcam and a traffic light cam as Gillis did not turn on his bodycam prior to the incident. And after seeing the video of the incident, it's hard not to think this is all a bit fishy.

Here's what the initial police report described the incident as:

"Detective Gillis was directing traffic into Gate 1 of the Valhalla Golf Course due to the road being closed in both directions from an earlier fatal collision. Listed subject was driving eastbound to gain access to the course. Subject pulled into the westbound lanes, where outbound traffic was flowing and to avoid backed up traffic. Detective Gillis was in the middle of the westbound lanes, in full LMPD uniform and a hi-visibility yellow reflective rain jacket. Detective Gillis stopped subject and attempted to give instructions. Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground. Detective Gillis suffered pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist and knee. He was transported to the hospital for further medical treatment by emergency medical personnnel. Detective Gillis' uniform pants, valued at approximately $80 were damaged beyond repair."

And now, here's the video of the incident as released by Louisville Metro PD on Thursday morning:

Strange that we don't see Detective Gillis being dragged on the ground (or even his pants being damaged), isn't it?

Scottie Scheffler arrest video contradicts Louisville Metro PD report

Frankly, nothing that was originally described in the police report is what is seen on the video. Scheffler turns quite normally into the driveway of the golf course as Detective Gillis runs up to his vehicle, bangs on the car, and then forces Scheffler to get out of the car when he was then arrested. At no point in the video do we see Gillis being dragged, as was claimed in the police report.

It's absolutely farcical after seeing the video evidence that Scheffler was forced to go to jail in this moment. Sure, we can't hear the conversations that were had and we can't know if the No. 1 golfer in the world explicitly followed instructions during what was obviously a stressful and tumultuous scene even prior to the arrest. However, the actions that warranted felony charges described in the police report simply aren't evident on the videos that were released.

We shall certainly see how things transpire following the release of the video evidence of what happened but one has to believe that it will all be favorable for Scheffler. Given what we know about him, his faith, and his personal life, the entire scene that was initially described by the police seemed entirely out of character. And now this video appears to show that the description was just flat-out untrue.