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On May 17, pro golfer Scottie Scheffler was taken into custody on charges of second-degree assault on an officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. His interaction with police officers quickly became a trending topic, something football quarterback turned sports analyst Robert Griffin III says he’s never witnessed before. He was quickly proven wrong.
Early Friday morning, a pedestrian was fatally struck by a bus on the main road that led to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Upon his arrival, Scottie Scheffler, the World’s No. 1-ranked pro golfer, attempted to go around the crash scene but was instructed by police to stop.
Scheffler was on his way to Valhalla Golf Club ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship tournament. According to the incident report, “Subject refused to comply and accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground.” The officer reportedly grabbed onto the side of Scheffler’s car and suffered “pain, swelling, and abrasions” when the vehicle accelerated. The golfer eventually stopped his car once he made it near the golf club’s entrance.
RGIII Believes Golfer Scottie Scheffler’s Arrest Is Unprecedented, Quickly Reminded of Injustices Black Athletes Faced (Photo: @rgiii / Instagram ; @scottie.scheffler / Instagram ; @Karen_Russell / X)
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, who captured footage of the incident, said, “Scheffler then stopped his vehicle at the entrance to Valhalla. The police officer then began to scream at Scheffler to get out of the car. When Scheffler exited the vehicle, the officer shoved Scheffler against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs.”
In a statement posted to his Instagram Stories, Scheffler called the incident a “big misunderstanding.”
“This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I’m hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today. Of course, all of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective.”
Scheffler was released from police custody on the same day and later teed off in the golf tournament.
As Scheffler became a trending topic on X, former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III shared his reaction to the incident.
“Never seen anything like this Scottie Scheffler situation in Golf before or really in any sport,” he tweeted.
The now-viral comment prompted some backlash from many sports fans who remember Black athletes who have gone through much worse at the hands of the law.
One social media user offered an answer to Griffin’s question by recalling the time tennis player James Blake was handcuffed and thrown to the ground during a confrontation with law enforcement in 2015. Blake was en route to the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament at the time of the incident.
James Blake would also like a word:pic.twitter.com/NhTEAjtVIQ
— Mackattack408 (@mackattack408) May 17, 2024
“NYPD broke an NBA player’s leg,” another person replied to Griffin in an apparent reference to Thabo Sefolosha’s incident with New York police in 2015. Sefolosha was playing for the Atlanta Hawks when NYPD tackled him down, breaking his leg and sidelining him for the season for giving a homeless man money. He later settled a police brutality lawsuit and received a $4 million payout — a fraction of what he was asking for.
“Those tap shoes gotta hurt your feet,” tweeted an X user alongside a screenshot of a news article referencing former Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown, who was tased and arrested at a Milwaukee drug store for parking in spot marked for disabled drivers. Milwaukee police then mocked him on social media. He was later awarded $750,000 in an excessive force settlement
Another X user went further back, proving that injustices against Black athletes is nothing new. “Hall of Famer Dave Winfield was arrested in Toronto in 1983 for accidentally killing a seagull with a thrown ball during a game,” they tweeted.
Karen Russell, daughter of the legendary Boston Celtics Center Bill Russell, entered the chat to remind RG3 of the many run-ins her father had with police.
“I could tweet all day about my Dad, Bill Russell, being pulled over by the cops for nonsense like driving while Black,” she said. “Daddy had many reasons for kneeling with @Kaepernick7!”
Griffin has been known to fully embrace his unconventional personality online, but that has sometimes put him at the center of controversy.
Scheffler has made four appearances at the PGA Championship. After winning the Masters Tournament, he earned the highly coveted green jacket twice, once in April and again in 2022.
