An eyewitness has shared his account of golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest following Friday’s remarkable developments.
Scheffler, the world No. 1, was taken into police custody before Round 2 of the PGA Championship on Friday morning after trying to get through halted traffic caused by a shuttle killing a pedestrian.
The golfer attempted to enter the Valhalla grounds but ended up doing his stretches in a jail cell before he was released, fortunately in time to play the second round later in the day.
Scheffler has since claimed that the incident resulted from a “big misunderstanding” and that he thought he was doing as directed.
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who saw what happened, gave a first-hand account on television.
His ESPN colleague, Bob Wischusen, also saw when Scottie Scheffler was arrested and has offered his account.
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“When [Scheffler] drove past him, the cop got very angry pursuing the car. … My impression was he was kind of running alongside chasing the car, and maybe he tripped and fell,” he told Golf.com. “I mean, there was kind of an outcropping or median, you know, by the front gate. And keep in mind, it was raining.
“It was 6 o’clock in the morning. It was dark. … I could see him stumble, but I did not have a very clear view of exactly how you want to categorize his contact with the car.”
Scottie Scheffler Wasn’t Attempting To Evade The Lawmen
Bob Wischusen said Scottie Scheffler was driving at the speed one would have if pulling up to the front gate of a building, although he didn’t know Scheffler was the driver at the time.
He claimed he could see how angry the policeman was once he got alongside the car.
“He runs up to the driver’s side, and with the butt end of his flashlight starts screaming, you know, ‘Get out of the car, get out of the car’ — banging on the window — ‘shut the engine off, get out of the car,” he continued.
“I’m a police officer.’ … [The officer] put him up against the car and put him in handcuffs. That was when we realized — you know, all the way up until then we’re like, oh my God, whoever is in this car, there’s about to be an arrest of some sort. And then it was, ‘Oh my God, it’s Scottie Scheffler.'”
Scottie Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic.
He is reported to have entered a plea of “not guilty,” while his arraignment has been postponed.
