VIRAL video showing black man brutalized by police ignites outrage, but bodycam footage tells a different story
A video recording of the February 2025 traffic stop and arrest of a 22-year-old African-American man named William McNeil Jr. is going viral following its release to the public. The roughly two-minute-long video is disturbing, as it appears to capture McNeil being brutalized by police officers.
In the clip, McNeil sits in his car and talks to a cop outside his passenger window. He says, “When he pulled me over, he walked up, I opened my door because my window don't work, right? And then I said, ‘So what I did wrong?’ He said, ‘Well, for one, your headlights are off under this weather.’ I’m like, ‘There's multiple people with headlights off, first of all, and then there’s no rain.’”
The cop he’s speaking to then replies, “It doesn’t matter. You’re still required to have headlights on.”
McNeil then responds, “Can you pull that law up?”
“Yeah, when you step out of the car, I will,” the officer says.
McNeil then requests the officer call his supervisor, at which point, the officer gives the order to have McNeil’s window smashed. Another cop reaches through the broken glass and punches McNeil, who is not fighting back and has his hands visible, in the face. He’s then ripped from his vehicle, punched by several officers, and wrestled to the ground.
It certainly appears like disproportionate force was used on McNeil.
However, another video has begun to circulate, and it radically alters the narrative. Sara Gonzales contrasts McNeil’s video with the much longer police bodycam footage of the incident.
Before McNeil began recording his own video of his window being smashed and his forcible removal from his vehicle, he had already been interacting with police for several minutes.
Police footage captures McNeil with his door open asking the officer why he’s been pulled over. The officer, keeping at a distance, asks McNeil why his door is open, to which McNeil explains that his window doesn’t work. After the officer informs McNeil that he’s been stopped for not using headlights in inclement weather and for not wearing his seat belt, he asks McNeil for his license, registration, and proof of insurance.
McNeil, however, boldly says, “No, call your supervisor.”
The officer then tells McNeil to “step out of the vehicle.” Again, McNeil says no and then proceeds to slam and lock his door.
At that point, the officer tells McNeil that he’s under arrest for resisting. “Sir, this is your last warning to open the vehicle and exit before we are going to break the window,” he says.
McNeil refuses, and the officer warns him six more times that his window will be broken if he doesn’t exit his vehicle. McNeil never complies, at which point the order is given for his window to be broken.
Reports also indicate that McNeil was driving with a suspended license, was in possession of marijuana at the time of his arrest, and reached for a large knife when officers opened his door.
To hear Sara’s commentary and analysis on the incident, watch the episode above.
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Harvard professor needed ‘police protection’ after publishing study condemned by Claudine Gay
Although Claudine Gay has since stepped down as the president of Harvard University, she once wielded her powers to further the woke agenda.
Many are aware of Gay’s refusal to address anti-Semitism on campus and the alleged plagiarism in her academic work, but fewer are familiar with how she attempted to destroy the career of Dr. Roland G. Fryer, a professor of economics at Harvard.
What was Dr. Fryer’s crime? Publishing research that found no racial disparities behind the killings of unarmed black men in Houston, Texas.
Pat Gray plays a clip of an interview of Dr. Fryer explaining his research:
“Yes, we saw some bias in the low-level uses of force — everyday pushing up against cars and things like that — people seemed to like that result. But we didn't find any racial bias in police shootings,” Dr. Fryer explained, adding that this research took place over a year’s time and involved the help of eight others.
However, because the result wasn’t what he expected, he restarted the research with eight new RAs.
“They came up with the same exact answer,” he said, but when he published his findings, “all hell broke loose.”
“It was a 104-page, dense academic economics paper with a 150-page appendix, okay? It was posted for four minutes when I got my first email [saying], ‘This is full of s***’ ... and I wrote back, ‘How'd you read it that fast?!’"
“I had colleagues take me to the side and say, ‘Don't publish this; you'll ruin your career,”’ Dr. Fryer continued. “I said to them, ‘If the second part showed bias, do you think I should publish it then?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, then it would make sense.”’
Thankfully, Dr. Fryer wasn’t swayed by his colleagues and responded with, “I guarantee you, I’ll publish it.”
His boldness didn’t come without consequence though.
“I lived under police protection for about 30 or 40 days,” he said. “I was going to the grocery store to get diapers with an armed guard. It was crazy.”
“People don’t like the truth,” says Pat.
“All he did was present facts, but that'll get you in trouble,” agrees Keith Malinak.
To hear more of Dr. Fryer’s story, watch the clip below.
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