1/ Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams, when he was commander of my district, always struck me as a decent, smart fellow and straight shooter. Somehow, he lost track of the true meaning of public service along the way.
https://twitter.com/marknaymik/status/1456316332169891841
2/ He was disrespectful to and disdainful of bona fide victims of police misconduct. He refused to freely provide information to victims, including Samaria Rice, mother of #TamirRice—we had to resort to public-records request.
3/ He was dilatory about holding officers accountable and let serious, even racist misconduct slide. Example. Officers Brian Kazimer and Dan Crisan. In Aug. 2010, the officers brutalized a 16-year-old Latino child with Down Syndrome. thefreethoughtproject.com/racist-cops-as…
4/ Six witnesses at the scene including the apartment manager unconnected to the family said the officers shouted racial epithets at the family, calling them "Mexican wetbacks" who "should go back to their own country if they can't speak English."
5/ (They're from the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.) The Civilian Police Review Board recommended discipline. Chief Williams, and his predecessor Chief McGrath, did NOTHING for SIX YEARS. Finally, Williams gave the officers a slap on the wrist for "unprofessional language."
6/ "Unprofessional language"!!! They were RACIST! One of the officers was promoted. As far as we know they continue to be entrusted with badges & guns to this day. Williams would not talk to the victim's family or share info with them as to his thinking.
7/ When RNC-16 protestors exercised their First Amendment rights, Chief Williams had them arrested and prosecuted and LIED that one had set himself on fire, when video disproved that. A judge threw out the charges. chandralaw.com/blog/payouts-t…
8/ The Ortiz family obtained a $250,000 settlement for the brutality and racism, and payouts to the RNC-16 protestors approached $1,000,000. Yet Chief Williams never held any of those officers accountable. Not one.
9/ Chief Williams would receive an F grade given how few of the federal consent decree's objectives he has met. And Williams, report Community Police Commission members, did not heed some of Commission's most important recommendations for police reform.
10/ And Chief Williams bitterly opposed #Issue24 #PoliceReform, probably in part because its genesis was his personal failure to hold officers—including racist ones—accountable.
It's good for Cleveland that he is resigning. It is tragic that he never lived up to his potential.
It's good for Cleveland that he is resigning. It is tragic that he never lived up to his potential.
11/ When I mentioned Samaria Rice earlier, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that we begged Chief Williams to please keep her updated—just be kind and human!—about discipline of the officers. He just blew us off & issued his press releases without informing he family. Cruel.
12/ Once, this was late on a Friday night and he threw Ms. Rice and her family into turmoil, just gratuitously torturing them through their grief. That fundamental indecency in his character is what will stay with me—ignoring pleas from victims just for fairness and information.
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