A police officer involved in the arrest of golf champion Scottie Scheffler is accused of stealing $4,000 from a suspect.
Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Javar Downs was arrested Friday after the man complained that his money had been stolen during a traffic stop.
Downs stopped the man around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday on Taylor Boulevard and allegedly found an envelope with $10,000 in cash inside and confiscated it.
However, the envelope contained only $6,000 inside when it was turned over as evidence to the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, police alleged.
Scheffler was arrested on May 17 and sent to jail after failing to stop while heading to the club for his second round at the PGA Championship.
The suspect complained to the police department that he saw Downs take the money for himself and put the rest into evidence.
Public Integrity Unit officers charged him with theft of more than $1,000 and official misconduct, and placed him under internal investigation.
“Chief (Paul) Humphrey has placed Officer Downs on emergency suspension, limited his police powers and initiated the termination process,” police said.
Scheffler was arrested on May 17 and charged with second-degree assault on a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding the signals of an officer directing traffic.
Police alleged at the time that he ignored instructions from officers directing traffic outside Valhalla Golf Club during the PGA Championship.
Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Javar Downs was arrested Friday after the man complained that his money had been stolen during a traffic stop.
An officer then “got caught” on the side of Scheffler’s car and was “dragged to the ground” and “suffered pain, swelling and abrasions to his left wrist and knee.”
Downs was reprimanded after the Scheffler saga for not turning on his body camera during the arrest.
He wrote on a non-registration form that the footage would have shown Scheffler being dragged from his car and taken into custody.
Down and fellow officer Kelvin Watkins were heavily criticized by their bosses for not activating their body cameras during the arrest.
He was defended by his direct supervisor, Robert Ward, who wrote in his report that Downs did not have time to activate the camera because of his need to intervene in the “rapidly deteriorating situation.”
Downs complained about the cost of Invisalign, a clear plastic alternative to braces for straightening teeth, in a Facebook post Thursday.
“I need a dark web dentist because the prices I just got quoted at the dentist make me feel like Jerome de Martin. Wow. I need to rename Invisalign: ‘Run ya pockets dude,'” he wrote.
