Our investigative team is
asking questions about an Oliver
Springs assistant police chief
accused of breaking the law.
Records show Clinton
police did charge Ryan Williams with
official misconduct and official oppression,
but the Anderson County District
Attorney declined to prosecute.
10 News investigative reporter Grace
King explains how that decision turned
a traffic stop into a federal lawsuit.
My son had got into a fight.
At Clinton Middle School,
Dwayne Howell still gets frustrated
thinking about April 27th, 2022.
Got suspended from school for a few days.
The Powell man picked up his son
from school, turned the corner and
saw flashing lights behind him.
I didn't know what was going on,
so he starts saying that my son,
his son, had got in a fight.
He then proceeded to tell me that my
son was being charged with assault.
Records show Oliver Springs Assistant
Police Chief Ryan Williams pulled Howell
over about 20 minutes outside of town
limits in Clinton. He pulled me over
with the sole purpose, I believe,
to harass me about my son being in a
fight with his son. Howell called 911.
Can can you find out if he's got
jurisdiction to pull me over right now?
Are you pulled over by Yeah,
by Oliver Springs Police Department.
Yeah, because his son got in a fight
with my son at the middle school.
In a statement provided by his attorney,
Williams said he believed Howell and his son
were attempting to elude law enforcement.
He thought he had the authority,
based on reasonable suspicion that
a potential crime had just occurred,
Clinton police launched an investigation.
The result of that investigation is that
Assistant Chief Ron Williams broke the law.
And they requested that it be presented
to the Anderson County grand jury.
Attorney Matt Udin, who represents
Howell, thought that would happen.
When the officers don't obey the law,
they should have the same consequences
as the rest of the citizens do.
Anderson County District Attorney General
Dave Clark reviewed Williams case.
In a letter to Oliver Springs
Police Chief David Laxton,
Clark wrote there's no indication
any sheriff's deputy, SRO,
school official or Clinton police
officer asked Williams to get
involved in a criminal investigation
or specifically a traffic stop.
He says it was not apparent
that Williams had any police
authority to act in this instance.
He was clearly in the wrong
DA. Clark agreed
the traffic stop was unlawful writing.
Williams may have been angry.
And that anger may have
significantly affected his judgment.
Still, he closed the case
without prosecuting Williams.
He says it's likely some jurors could
understand the possible confusion
about whether Williams had any legal
authority Outside of Oliver Springs.
Nothing was ever done,
so it's really upsetting,
Howell says. His son was charged in
juvenile court with assaulting Williams.
Son. He had to write a paper
and do community service.
He done wrong, you know he's.
He had to suffer whatever
consequences that they were going
to give him, which he did. He
says what happened with Assistant
Chief Williams doesn't feel right
for all the good ones out there.
You know, you got one like that.
They're just ruins.
The rest of them, you know.
He hopes filing a federal lawsuit
last month will hold Williams in the
town of Oliver Springs accountable.
So a situation like this
doesn't happen again.
Mr. Williams done wrong and has
yet to suffer any consequences.
And that's really disappointing
in our. Judicial system.
We wanted to know Ryan Williams status
with the Oliver Springs Police Department
and whether anything happened internally.
Well, the Oliver Springs Police
Department says they can't answer those
questions or anything else because
of the ongoing litigation, District
Attorney General Dave Clark wrote.
Williams is a personal friend and
trusted part of the Police Department,
but says that did not affect his decision.