LONSBERRY: Why Wasn't Keith Williams In Jail?

Why was Keith Williams free?

               Last Friday, when the sweetest man in Rochester uniform walked up the steps to answer a call for help, why was the monster who would try to kill him waiting behind the door, instead of down at the county lockup?

               That’s not a rhetorical question. It’s a demand.

               What the hell is wrong with a system or a prosecutor that lets a violent criminal with four open felony cases walk the streets?

               You know the story. Officer Denny Wright was called to Peck Street about noon. He had been there before. Seems like the whole department had been there before. The last time was in June, when Keith Williams – wanted on suspicion of shooting a guy the night before – holed up in an armed standoff with the police.

               Denny Wright was part of bringing that to an end.

               Denny Wright was often part of bringing things to an end. Twenty-plus years on the job, easy smile, kindly demeanor, the sort of guy who deescalates, who talks people down, who loves his neighbor and treats him accordingly.

               That was the guy Keith Williams jumped on Peck Street.

               Jumped, and pounded. Over and over. In the face. A young man in his prime and the white-haired cop some 20 years older.

               And Denny Wright went down.

               And Keith Williams came at him with a knife. An eight-inch knife. And it looks like he tried to cut his eye out. And maybe cut his head off. Because that’s where the wounds are. The wounds that made a couple of cops cry. Wounds that left neighbors aghast.

               Some of them.

               Because some of the neighbors caught the police response on Facebook Live and profanely hoped that the cop was dead.

               But he’s not. Denny Wright is up at General, in intensive care, with his school-teacher wife at his bedside.

               And Keith Williams is behind bars.

               Where he should have been on Friday.

               Keith Williams was charged with two violent crimes this summer and with the violation of an order of protection from last year.

               The high point was the early June standoff, with cops squatting behind cars and cameramen jockeying for an angle, over some case where a guy had supposedly shot somebody and the cops wanted to talk to him about it.

               That was Keith Williams, and when they took him in for arraignment the next morning, Judge Stephen Miller let him walk. No bail. He was ROR’d, released on his own recognizance. Just turned loose.

               At least that’s what the district attorney says. But what she’s been saying about this hasn’t been much. Either I’ve just gotten stupid and am having a comprehension problem, or there’s some ass covering going on.

               But the DA says the judge turned Keith Williams loose, while also sentencing him to eight months in jail for ignoring an order of protection. But he still walked out the door. Why? The DA says because of good time and time served.

               But I don’t feel obligated to believe it.

               And I don’t feel inclined to buy the happy talk and look the other way.

               Because incompetence has consequences. And whatever individuals, offices, procedures or rules put this man on the street are incompetent – incapable of performing their basic function. And this particular brand of dumbassery can get people killed.

               This isn’t a hypothetical or a paperwork snafu, this is a husband and a father lying maimed and probably handicapped up at the hospital, hoping that no opportunistic infection or medical misadventure puts him in his grave.

               And somebody needs to explain.

               Somebody owes this officer, his department, and the city he protected an explanation of just exactly how he came to be so tragically failed by the system.

               And the one doing the talking should be the district attorney. Because either her office crapped the bed or her office failed to raise the alarm. The poo is on her shoes.

               There needs to be a clear and complete public accounting of why Keith Williams was released without bail after allegedly shooting someone and getting in a standoff with police, what the status of his various charges is, and when and how his eight-month sentence was served.

               Four pending felony matters, free and in the wind, catch and release, and some cop has to pay.

               And either the district attorney or the judge screwed it up royal.

               And somebody better explain.

               Because boo-hoo-hoo on the evening news about injured cops is meaningless if you don’t do your duty every day to protect them and the society they serve.


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