Jones to show council videos that got officer suspended


 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