A US police officer smashed the window of a man’s car, then twice hits him in the head after he was pulled over for ‘not having his headlights on#’.
Video footage shows the shocking incident, which happened in Jacksonville, Florida in February, but has just been shared by the driver on Instagram.
Posting under the handle @904will, the man said he was stopped by policeover his headlights being off in daylight, when there was ‘no rain, smoke or fog’.
In the clip, the driver is heard asking an officer standing on the passenger side of the vehicle why he was stopped as ‘there’s no rain.”
The officer, who is out of shot, replies: ‘It doesn’t matter – you’re still required to have headlights on.’
The man asks to see the law, to which the officer says he’ll show it once he’s stepped out of the car.
The driver then asks for a ‘a supervisor’ to be called, at which point – as the man writes in the caption – ‘things escalated quickly’.
The video shows a policeman punching through the driver’s door window, shouting, ‘Exit the vehicle now’.
He then hits the man in the head, repeatedly telling him to get out of the car.
Despite the ambush the man remains calm, and although he doesn’t get out of the vehicle he puts his hands up when asked, and shows no sign of being a threat.
He’s then dragged out of the car and surrounded by at least two officers, with the one who punched him earlier hitting him in the head a second time and slamming him to the ground.
This time the driver sounds panicked and shouts at them to stop, before he’s handcuffed and told he’s being arrested for resisting.
In his post, the man said he suffered ‘a chipped tooth and nine plus stitches’ in his lips.
He also said he had ‘a concussion and short term memory loss’ from the assault.
He added that it had been ‘very hard’ on his mental health.
‘I’m not mentally healed from this but I had to get the word out eventually,’ he said.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said in a statement shared on social media on Sunday that an internal investigation has been launched.
They said: ‘We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025.
‘We have launched an internal investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding this incident.
‘We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.’
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