Former Pittsburgh officer sees difference in police killings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd
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Former Pittsburgh Police officer Sheldon Williams says, judging from the public record, the Atlanta police officer in the Rayshard Brooks case had reasonable justification to shoot, after Brooks assaulted the officers and took one of their tasers.
But in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Williams believes the officers were completely at fault. And he called the Antwon Rose II case “a problematic use of deadly force” that should have resulted in the officer’s conviction.
Williams was a Pittsburgh Police officer for 15 years, serving as a senior Bomb Squad technician, a detective and a counterterrorism coordinator. He is now a member of the Citizens Police Review Board as well as a pastor for Fellowship 4:12, a satellite church campus of Allegheny Center Alliance Church.
Williams said incidents involving police violence against black citizens must be judged on a case-by-case basis.
In a video interview with TribLIVE, he talks about the difference between “aggressive” and “assertive” policing, what needs to happen with police reform and the need to improve police/community relations.