Following the arrest of world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler by Louisville Metro Police Detective Brian Gillis last week prior to the second day of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, further scrutiny has been focused on his past, including his disciplinary history.
Gillis, who has been with the department since 2007, had already received multiple verbal and written disciplinary punishments, including multiple suspensions, before this high-profile incident. According to WLYK.
Gillis violated Louisville police policy by failing to activate his body camera during the incident with Scheffler, and Louisville Police Chief Jacqueline Gwynn Villaroel told reporters Thursday that “corrective action” had been taken against Gillis.
This comes after Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg and Louisville Police released new video footage of the arrest and the moments leading up to it at a press conference on Thursday.
And as recently as 2021, Gillis was reprimanded for pursuing a vehicle that had not committed a violent crime and for which he had no warrants, and for failing to notify a dispatcher before beginning the pursuit.
In 2013, Gillis was suspended without pay for five days for dancing donuts in a parking lot while an intoxicated member of the public was in his car.
Gillis was suspended for four days in 2012 for breaching police court attendance rules, but he had been reprimanded four times between 2010 and 2011 for this offence.
He had been suspended for one day without pay in 2011 for breaching the same police rules and had received the same punishment a year earlier for the exact same issue.
Gillis has received numerous accolades, including: NBC reports He “exceeded expectations” during an “intensive traffic enforcement mission” in September 2021, the release said.
Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal damage to property, reckless driving and failing to obey a police officer’s signal while directing traffic for the incident before the second round of the PGA Championship last week.
But some within the Louisiana State Police have expressed concern about the severity of the felony charges against Scheffler.
Scheffler’s lawyer, Steve Romines, told reporters Thursday that he is prepared to take the case to court and will not settle.
“We either try it or we’re turned down. It’s that simple,” Romines said. “The evidence just keeps coming out and supporting what Scottie has been saying all along.”
“This was a confusing situation and there was a lack of communication. He has done nothing wrong.”
