Fans of Scottie Scheffler confirmed as much as assist the world’s No.1 golfer on the PGA Championship in specially-printed t-shirts following his arrest for assaulting a police officer on Friday.
Quite a few supporters had been seen across the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course in Kentucky sporting “Free Scottie” tees after Scheffler spent a number of hours that morning in a Louisville jail.
One fan was in an orange jumpsuit much like the one Scheffler wore when his mugshot was taken on the jail. The t-shirts had been accessible for buy within the car parking zone, in line with the Associated Press.
“He’s the best guy out there right now, both as a player and a person,” John Glenwood, of Louisville, advised the AP. “We’re here to support him.”
However questions had been raised over why the golfer was launched so shortly from jail after being charged with a felony and several other misdemeanours.
The 27-year-old Texan was arrested exterior the membership simply after 6am on Friday, taken to jail, wearing an orange jumpsuit and had his mugshot taken.
In addition to the assault felony, he was charged with prison mischief, reckless driving and disregarding alerts from an officer directing site visitors — all misdemeanours.
He was launched and made his 10am tee time on Friday within the second spherical of the match.
“A man drags a cop with his vehicle and hospitalizes him. He’s arrested … charged with a felony … and then immediately released so he can make his tee time? Did I get that right?” stated Ricky L. Jones, a University of Louisville professor of pan-African research, on the social platform X.
Bill Miller, an area golf fan who was on the course on Friday, stated it solid Louisville and the police in a detrimental mild.
“It’s just another bad look for the city,” Miller stated. “I’d want to understand what the cop was trying to do. But it’s sad.”
Scheffler was arrested after making an attempt to drive into Valhalla Golf Club in heavy site visitors brought on by an earlier, unrelated accident by which a male pedestrian died after being struck by a shuttle bus.
According to the police report, Detective Bryan Gillis stopped Scheffler’s automobile and “attempted to give instruction” to the Masters champion, who’s competing within the US PGA Championship.
The report alleges Scheffler refused to conform and “accelerated forward, dragging Detective Gillis to the ground”.
After being launched on his personal recognizance and pushed to the course, Scheffler carded a second spherical of 66 to lie three pictures behind midway lead Xander Schauffele.
“As far as best rounds of my career, I would say it was pretty good,” Scheffler stated, after taking part in the spherical.
“I definitely never imagined ever going to jail, and I definitely never imagined going to jail the morning before one of my tee times.”
Scheffler’s lawyer insists he’s ready to go to trial if the cost of assaulting a police officer just isn’t dropped.
“They’ll either be dropped or we’ll go to trial because he didn’t do anything wrong,” Steve Romines, Scheffler’s lawyer, advised Golf Channel.
“So we’re not interested in any sort of settlement negotiations or anything like that. It was just a big miscommunication.
“There had been a traffic fatality down the road and so there were differing traffic directions going on and traffic control officers were advising different things.
“Scottie was advised by one officer to go around and turn left into the facility. But the officer who charged him obviously didn’t know that. So, that’s where the miscommunication occurred.”
The golfer is about to be arraigned on Tuesday however that may very well be rescheduled. Romines added: “We will enter a plea of not guilty and get the next court date.”
Mr Romines represented the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot in her house by Louisville police in 2020, in a civil lawsuit towards town.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg advised native media shops on Saturday that there isn’t any police bodycam footage of Scheffler’s arrest.
The officer was directing site visitors on the time, and the division’s officers sometimes don’t document video with their physique cameras whereas directing site visitors, Kevin Trager, the mayor’s press secretary, wrote in a textual content message to an AP reporter.
With reporting from companies
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/scottie-scheffler-tshirts-pga-championship-b2547361.html