WILLIAMS, AZ — The Williams Police Department responded to the community in a lengthy letter Friday after an ABC15 Investigation raised questions about the use of force by a high-ranking lieutenant.
Chief Tad Wygal posted the letter on the department’s Facebook page.
Wygal continued to defend the actions of his lieutenant and described what happened as an unintended injury after the suspect was resisting arrest. He also said it was crucial to understand the challenges faced by law enforcement in making split-second decisions.
“The use of force incident was thoroughly investigated by both the Williams Police Department and an external agency, the Page Police Department of Page, Arizona,” the letter said.
The family of the man injured during the use of force, two former Williams police officers, and a law enforcement expert ABC15 interviewed disagreed with that statement.
“You simply can’t look at a police report and look at a body camera and draw 100-percent conclusion,” said law enforcement expert Jeff Kirkham in a previous interview. “I would say that was a failure of those agencies to thoroughly investigate.”
Kirkham has nearly four decades of experience in law enforcement. He was the former Nogales police chief, worked for AZPost, and spent time investigating police complaints at Apache Junction Police.
ABC15’s Investigation focused on what was captured on police body camera video during the arrest of Brian Lopez, 49, in October 2022 in Williams, Arizona.
Shortly after another officer placed the suspect in handcuffs, the body camera video shows Lieutenant John Romero’s hand appearing, unannounced, on Brian’s back.
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Romero takes Brian to the ground while he’s in handcuffs, causing a major head injury.
“Definitely was not reasonable force there,” said Brian’s stepdad Kelly Brockett after viewing the body camera video for the first time. “He was being belligerent, but he was doing what he was told to do.”
According to the police report, Lt. Romero justified his actions, by saying Brian was resisting arrest. For his officer’s safety, he decided to place him on the ground but said his jacket slipped.
Former Williams Police Officer Nicole White made the arrest and said she believed the force was inappropriate.
“I would describe it as violent, unjustified, unnecessary … Brian didn't deserve that. I'm sorry,” White said while holding back tears in a later interview with ABC15. “It was a petty theft. Brian didn’t deserve that.”
White said she immediately reported Lt. Romero’s use of force to her supervisor who reported it to the police chief.
Documents show Chief Wygal investigated Romero’s actions and concluded Romero’s intervention was both reasonable and appropriate. But those same records show he only reviewed the reports, dash and body camera video and never interviewed the arresting officer or other witnesses.
In Wygal’s letter to the community Friday he said, “The clearance from both the Page Police Department and AZPOST underscores the professionalism and appropriateness of Lt. Romero’s actions in the given situation.”
Both agencies did clear Romero and ABC15 reported that information.
But AZPost, the state agency that oversees police, only reviews an agency’s complaint process. It doesn’t investigate officer misconduct which is left up to each police department to do.
AZPost also said it asked Williams Police to conduct a full internal affairs investigation into the incident, which likely would have included interviews with the arresting officer and other witnesses. Williams PD didn’t do that. Instead, the chief sent it to that external agency, Page Police, for review.
According to police records, Page Police also made its determination based on the videos and written reports.
See the full statement from Williams Police to the community below:
