By Rachel Molenda, Staff writer
Tonight, Charleston City
Council members will see the videos that got a Charleston police officer
suspended, Mayor Danny Jones said.But members of the public won’t see the
videos, which were allegedly taken from Lt. Shawn Williams’ personal computer.
Instead, council members will view them behind closed doors.Sources have told
the Gazette that the videos show Williams’ young daughter dressed in what
appear to be articles of a police uniform and dancing to an anthem of the Ku
Klux Klan.
Sources have also told the Gazette that Police Chief Brent Webster
recommended that Williams be fired.Jones said he wants to show council members
the videos because a council member is advocating on Williams’ behalf.“He’s got
one strong advocate on council, who’s lobbying for him, and I think that they
need to see exactly what’s going on,” Jones told the Gazette.Jones said there
were seven short videos obtained by the police department.“Someday you’ll see
those tapes, and they’re not very pretty,” the mayor said during a meeting last
week between police officers and clergy about race and community
relations.Williams was suspended pending an investigation by the department’s
personal conduct division that was triggered by an internal complaint. Webster
has not commented on the investigation because of personnel laws.Jones said
Williams has made “some very serious allegations against the police
department,” referring to a television interview Williams did in November with
WCHS-TV.In the interview, asked if he thought the investigation was political,
Williams answered, “Without a doubt.”“I was contacted back in the spring and
summer by some City Council people that thought the department needed to go in
a different direction,” Williams said.Williams also said Jones told his lawyer
that he needed to listen to reason or Jones would release the tapes to a local
news station.The suspended officer said the police department is likely using
the investigation “as a tool that, ‘We’re not going to tolerate racism in the
Charleston Police Department.’ Well, if you think that this is the first and
only incident of racism in the Charleston Police Department, people, I guess
‘Stand by,’ ” Williams said.“If everybody on council rises up and supports
Shawn Williams, that’s their business,” Jones said. “It’s a significant case
and a significant issue, and he’s made some allegations against our police
department that I don’t think are fair.”City Council meets at tonight at 7 in
City Hall.Reach Rachel Molenda - See more at:
http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141215/GZ01/141219575/1101#sthash.DiOfzxOO.dpuf