The four charges filed against the world’s No. 1-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler, who was arrested during a traffic stop Friday morning in Kentucky, carry a compounding maximum sentence of more than 11 years in jail, according to criminal attorneys surveyed by The Post.
Scheffler might be able to completely avoid jail time, three attorneys not directly involved in the case agreed, but that will be determined by whether he is a first-time offender, the extent of injuries suffered by the arresting officer, available body camera footage and other relevant factors.
The officer who attempted to stop Scheffler from entering Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville – site of this week’s PGA Championship – was dragged to the ground and suffered “pain, swelling and abrasions” to his wrist and knee after the car accelerated, according to a police report.
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Scheffler, 27, wascharged with second-degreeassault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.
“The officer is going to have some explaining to do,” Tucker Richardson of the Lexington, Ky.-based Baldani Law Group said. “I think they are going to fine [Scheffler] on driving through the median, at the most, because they will have to get some type of plea to justify the arrest. At the end of the day, the officer and Scottie are going, ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that.’ They will probably work it out – unless there are injuries.”
The officer, who attached himself to Scheffler’s car after he did not comply with instructions to stop, pulled Scheffler out of the car by his arm, pushed him against the car and handcuffed him, according to ESPN.
“Every case is fact-sensitive,” Richardson said. “In this situation, as I understand the facts as they are [reported] to be, this assault is going to be hard to prove, and I would think they would want to resolve this in the criminal mischief arena, with a small fine and restitution for the damages incurred. If this officer is dragged and has injuries, then it’s going to be a different story.”
Second-degree assault is a felony that is defined as intentionally causing serious physical injury or intentionally causing injury by means of a deadly weapon (car) and carries a sentence of 5-to-10 years.
The other three charges are misdemeanors.
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“Some first-time offenders are eligible for a diversionary program,” said Rich Lomurro of Freehold, N.J.-based Lomurro Law, “but not at that [second] degree.”
Disregarding signals from criminal mischief can be elevated from a Class B to a Class A misdemeanor if it is “committed by a defendant fleeing the commission of a felony offense,” according to Kentucky law.
That charge could result in an additional year, and third-degree criminal mischief carries a 90-day sentence and a fine.
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Reckless driving is subject to a $20 to $100 fine.
“The overwhelming odds are that he wouldn’t receive all of those things together, but that’s his maximum exposure,” Lomurro said. “It’s not uncommon for a charge to be downgraded to a place where he could resolve his case without having to do any jail time. That being said, the charges are real and what he is facing is significant felony time.”
Laws are designed to protect police officers and it is common for a second-degree charge to be given when this type of activity involves a police officer as opposed to a pedestrian.
The incident reportedly occurred as police tried to clear the scene of an earlier unrelated fatal accident.
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Scheffler released a statement to ESPN where he described an understandably “chaotic situation” and called it a “big misunderstanding” as he tried to arrive for his morning tee time.
“It sounds like an unfortunate situation where both the [officer] and Scottie were under a lot of stress for different reasons,” said Gerry Krovatin of the Newark-based Krovatin Nau firm, who represented then-Giants quarterback Kyle Lauletta after he was arrested during a traffic stop in 2018.
“Professional athletes are under incredible stress in these kinds of situations that people don’t always understand. Not excusing Scottie’s impatience, but this sounds like a unique situation. I would hope it could be resolved as quickly and informally as possible where … it becomes a motor-vehicle charge and not an assault charge that would result in potential jail time – with appropriate apologies and appropriate regard for the detective and the injuries that he suffered.”
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The three attorneys agreed that a possibly reasonable creative resolution could include Scheffler providing a charitable form of community service to the area or the police department in addition to paying his fines.
“One of the things that’s always relevant in a case is intent,” Lomurro said. “At these golf events, you have many people dressed up as security. It might not have been so easy for him to tell whether this was a uniformed police officer versus someone moving traffic. If he didn’t have requisite intent to hurt a police officer, this becomes a whole different ball game. Those things need to be flushed out.”
