Charges against golf champ Scottie Scheffler dropped in Kentucky arrest

Kentucky prosecutors on Wednesday dropped all criminal charges against golf champ Scottie Scheffler related to his controversial arrest on May 17 as he tried to drive into the club hosting the PGA Championship in Louisville.

“Based on the totality of the evidence my office cannot move forward in the prosecution of the charges filed against Mr. Scheffler,” Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell told a judge.

The 27-year-old Scheffler, who is the world’s top-ranked golfer, had faced charges of felony assault on a police officer and reckless driving in the case.

The charges were dropped a week after videos were released by Louisville authorities that captured the moments around Scheffler’s arrest by a city police detective who objected to him driving around a line of traffic to enter the Valhalla Golf Club.

The arrest, which was witnessed by an ESPN reporter, was immediately controversial because Scheffler had been waved around the cars by security at the scene, where police were responding to an earlier accident involving a shuttle bus that struck and killed a pedestrian.

Scheffler was not aware of the accident when he was told to drive around the backup, O’Connell told a judge.

Scheffler’s attorney Steve Romines told reporters after the court hearing where the charges were dismissed, “We are obviously … pleased with the result.”

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