BENNETTSVILLE—The Bennettsville City Council held a special meeting Tuesday night to discuss a Bennettsville Police Department personnel matter. The council went into executive session for nearly two hours and no decisions were made.
However, former BPD Sgt. Emmanuel Williams, who was asked to attend the meeting, made a statement to the mayor and council at the end of the meeting.
Williams was recently named the police chief of Lake City. According to a press release from the Lake City Police Department, “The decision to hire Williams comes after an extensive search process that garnered more than 24 qualified candidates from across South Carolina and beyond. The search concluded with a public meeting and question and answer session held Wednesday, Feb 21, at the Continuum with the final two candidates: Williams, and Maj. Patrick Miles.”
Williams was set to begin his job as chief on March 4 and was going to work a two-week notice at BPD. Then the special meeting happened.
“I accepted a position that changed my career, and the man that y’all hold as chief tried to take it from me twice,” Williams said following the meeting. “What I’m asking is how much longer does this stuff have to go on? I know for a fact that he called my major and asked my major to come to the city and bring half of my employees with him. Is that not enough? Is it not enough that a news article got released because of a tip for something that happened in my life 10 years ago before I was even able to buy a bottle of liquor, that’s not enough? I’ve served my country and I’ve served this city. I’ve sat here since six o’clock thinking that some type of resolution or that my opinion would’ve mattered. But what I’m seeing is, it doesn’t matter, just like it didn’t matter when I was an officer here,” Williams said vehemently. “That being said, Mr. Simon [Bennettsville City Administrator] I’m not going to work my two-week notice… I’ll report to my department, where I can lead my people the right way. Because this isn’t it. This isn’t it. I’ve served this community, my family grew up in this community, this isn’t right.”
At the Feb. 20 regular council meeting, the council went over a police department assessment — in executive session — and hasn’t released any information about the findings of the report. The Herald-Advocate has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the report.