Last month, a substitute teacher in Minnesota who was also a police officer got himself barred from teaching in the district after he set out to prove to students at Woodbury High School that “police brutality isn’t real” by — *checks notes* — reenacting arguably the most high-profile police brutality case since Rodney King…on his students.
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Now, that substitute teacher and cop is neither a substitute teacher nor a cop as he has “involuntarily” resigned from his job with the Prescott Police Department.
As we previously reported, Steven Williams was moonlighting as a substitute teacher at the high school when he was captured in a viral photo using students to reenact the vicious murder of George Floyd by disgraced, convicted, and, at one point, shanked ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Williams was also accused of making sexist jokes and racially insensitive comments and telling impressionable young minds that police brutality is a myth. (Like leprechauns and unicorns, except this myth can be captured on camera and used as evidence in court. Go figure.)
According to Fox 9, a separation agreement between Williams and the City of Prescott shows that the former resigned from the police department involuntarily.
Now, you might be thinking: “Wait, doesn’t an involuntary resignation just mean he got fired?”
Well, no, not exactly. You see when a person gets outright fired, their pink slip doesn’t typically come with severance benefits and an agreement that his record will reflect that they “resigned in lieu of termination,” which is what Williams received along with his walking papers. It’s also worth noting that the police department placed Williams on paid administrative leave after the incident at the high school because, apparently, when a cop gets suspended, no matter what offense they committed, their suspension is more like forced PTO. Basically, departments punish gross police misconduct by making cops take their vacation days before they even have a chance to plan a trip.
From Fox 9:
The City of Prescott solicited the resignation of Williams recently, due to the incident.
The separation agreement says severance benefits have been offered to Williams, and his resignation is effective Nov. 15.
As part of the deal, his employee personnel file will show he resigned and will be classified in a portal for The Wisconsin Department of Justice as “resigned in lieu of termination.”
The City of Prescott agreed to provide a letter of reference to future employment reference requests. It will state dates of employment, positions held, duties, and final rate of pay. The city will also provide more information complying with Wisconsin’s open records law.
It’s nice to know that despite Williams proving himself to be a walking civil rights violation waiting to happen, the City of Prescott is taking the initiative to make sure he lands OK when seeking new employment. (But please, tell us more about how American police officers are under siege, and the “blue lives matter” movement was absolutely a necessary cause *rolls eyes*.)
It’s worth noting that the Prescott Police Department is actually the third department he has stepped down from, having left the Wausau Police Department in 2003 and the Daniels County Sheriff’s Office in Montana in 2021. It’s unclear under what circumstances he left those departments, but if his performance at Woodbury High School is any indication, those departments only rid themselves of one of those “bad apples” they’re always going on about.
