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Probable cause -- or excessive force?

The Merced Police Department was prompted to conduct an internal investigation into Williams' Tasing after Decker filed a complaint with the department on Sept. 14.

Decker said he spent the weekend disgusted by what he'd just seen and felt he had to step forward.

The former owner of "Big Will's Barbecue" restaurant in Atwater, Decker said he wanted to intervene to help Williams, but feared he'd be the next to be Tased -- or worse. "He didn't fight. He didn't hit anybody. Nothing," Williams said.

Cmdr. Floyd Higdon, spokesman for the Merced Police Department, said he couldn't comment on any specific details about the incident, citing the internal investigation.

Although Higdon said the officers involved remain on-duty, he said the department is taking the internal investigation and the allegations seriously.

"We want to get to the bottom of it," Higdon said. "We want to make sure we're doing the right thing for the right reasons. But like any case, we need to keep an open mind."

In the police reports filed by Court and Pinnegar, details surrounding the incident differ somewhat from Williams' account.

According to the report filed by Pinnegar, he arrived at the K Street apartment at 3:27 p.m. to investigate a call about a fight in progress.

Phifer told the officer that she'd been in an argument with Williams, who punched her about three times in the stomach with a closed fist. Phifer told Pinnegar she had no physical injuries.

Pinnegar walked over to talk with Williams, who acknowledged the couple had been in an argument about their 2-year-old. When asked if he'd struck Phifer, Williams denied it, according to Pinnegar's report.

While Pinnegar was talking with Williams, a CPS worker arrived at the scene, telling the officer she'd received information from an "anonymous citizen" that there was domestic violence happening at Phifer's and Williams' apartment, and that there was drug use in front of "the children."

According to the report, Williams then became "extremely upset" because CPS was at his doorstep. Pinnegar and Court told Williams that it would "be in his best interest" if he allowed the CPS worker to search his home, to ensure that it was an "adequate place for the child to be raised," the report said.

Williams told the officer he was no longer going to talk with them, saying that "he knew his rights."

'You're not taking my kid!'

After Pinnegar told Williams he was going to "have to take him into custody for misdemeanor domestic violence," Williams replied that he wasn't going to allow anyone to take his child.

Court went to Williams' right side and "grabbed his right arm into a rear wristlock," according to the report. Williams began to yell, "You're not taking me to jail! You're not taking my kid!"

Pinnegar grabbed Williams' left arm, which he had wrapped around his daughter, pulled the child away and handed her to the CPS worker.

"After removing Williams' arm from the child, he then grabbed his wheelchair and refused to comply with our orders," Pinnegar wrote in the report.

Pinnegar then told Williams if he didn't comply, he was going to shock him with his Taser. "Williams continued to yell and scream that he wasn't going to jail. I removed my Taser from the left side of my utility belt and removed the cartridge. I then activated my Taser and applied it to the left shoulder of Williams. After Tasing Williams, he began to comply and I was able to grab his left arm," Pinnegar's report stated.

Court, in his report, said he tried to explain to Williams that he had no intention of taking him or his daughter. He wrote that he only wanted him to cooperate with Pinnegar and the CPS worker "so that we could get the information that was needed and leave."

In the report, Court said his efforts to "verbal judo" a belligerent Williams into cooperating failed, as Williams yelled profanities and refused to comply.

As for Williams' disability, Court said he and Pinnegar were "extremely careful" in handling him, putting Williams' arms behind his back before carefully removing his daughter. Court's report stated the officers "did this without even having (Williams) come out of his chair."

Neither Court nor Pinnegar mentioned in their reports that Williams allegedly fell out of his chair. Nor do the reports mention how Williams was allegedly handcuffed on the pavement with his pants down. While Williams said he remembered being Tasered in the rib-cage, Pinnegar stated in his report that he applied the Taser to Williams' shoulder.

As the officers began taking Williams into custody, a crowd of 10 to 15 people began to approach the police. A member of the crowd, Clifton Allison, walked toward Pinnegar, yelling, "Leave him alone you [bleeping] bitch," the report said.

Pinnegar placed the cartridge back into his Taser, pointed it at Allison and called police dispatch to request backup units. Although Pinnegar instructed Allison to back away, he continued to come toward the officer, shouting to leave Williams alone.

More officers arrived, and Allison was placed in a patrol car "due to the fact he was enticing other people in the area while we were trying to take Williams into custody," Pinnegar wrote in his report.

Court wrote in his report that the only visible injury on Williams was a cut to his lip, which "appeared to be self-inflicted," possibly from biting it. Court's report said Williams also complained of chest pains, and Pinnegar believed Williams might have also have suffered a dislocated shoulder.

While at the hospital, Williams, without being advised of his Miranda Rights, apologized to Pinnegar for "acting up," saying he was only trying to protect his daughter. He also told Pinnegar that he'd never struck his wife, according to Pinnegar's report.

'Hey, you can't do that!'

Several residents who witnessed the incident said they think police used excessive force.

While some witnesses said they didn't see the Tasing itself, their account of the aftermath matches Williams' account.

Eddie Blaylock, a 38-year-old resident of the apartment complex, said he was standing outside his unit with his wife, Cathy, when the couple witnessed the commotion. Blaylock said he doesn't personally know Williams, saying he's only "waved" at him from time to time.

Blaylock, who was a member of the crowd that gathered to watch the incident unfold, said he began taking notice after seeing "two cops trying to handcuff a guy in a wheelchair." After seeing an officer pull out his Taser, Blaylock said he yelled, "Hey, you can't do that!"

One of the officers threatened to Taser Blaylock if he "didn't step back," he said. Blaylock said he didn't actually see Williams get Tasered, although he did see him on the pavement, handcuffed, with his pants down. "He was handcuffed that way, with his pants down. He couldn't do nothing," Blaylock said. "He was just sitting there, on his knees, with his pants down. Not doing anything, not fighting, nothing. Just staring."

Blaylock and his wife said they never saw Williams resist arrest or become violent. "He was complaining about them yanking his arm back before they handcuffed him, because they had one cuff on him," Blaylock said. "They couldn't get the other arm for some reason, and that's when the Taser came in. He was yelling about his arm being stretched backwards."

Farrah Shells, Allison's girlfriend, said she walked up to the scene with her boyfriend and saw Williams on the pavement handcuffed. "They wouldn't even let him pull his pants up," Shells said.

While Allison was arrested and faces charges for resisting arrest and carrying an illegal weapon, Shells disputes the officers' claims. Shells said Allison had been trying to record video footage of the incident on a camera phone when an officer told him to stop.

Shells said Allison refused to stop filming the incident, saying, "Well, everyone else is." Shells said the officer then arrested Allison, although he didn't resist, and willingly placed his hands behind his back. In addition, Shells said she believes police deleted the video footage of the incident from the phone. "Before they gave it back to me, I saw a cop going through my phone," Shells said.

When asked about Shells' claims about the phone and the circumstances surrounding Allison's arrest, Higdon declined comment, saying that's also part of the department's internal affairs investigation.

A rough neighborhood

Anyone who lives in the vicinity of the two-story apartments at 2355 K Street will tell you the area is known for drug sales and other illegal activity.

Williams said he lives at the complex strictly out of economic necessity. He also claims he never uses drugs, and only drinks an occasional beer.

Before his arrest on Sept. 11, Williams had only minor brushes with the law. He was arrested on July 17, 1991, on suspicion of spousal abuse, for an incident with his then-girlfriend. On March 27, 1992, he was arrested for misdemeanor driving without a license and a misdemeanor spousal abuse and battery warrant. All those charges were dismissed.

Despite the allegations of drug use at his home, Williams has never been arrested on any drug charges. "I'm not like what they say in all those reports. What they are trying to do is justify what they did to me," Williams said.

William's daughter, Ginni, is with his sister-in-law. He's been unable to see her since his release from jail.

Internal Affairs probe

Higdon said he's not sure how long the internal investigation will take, noting that such investigations can range from a few weeks to several months. He said the investigation will determine if the officers violated any of the department's policies and procedures and if any criminal acts were committed.

The department's internal affairs report will eventually be forwarded to Merced Police Chief Norm Andrade for his review.

Decker, who filed the complaint with police, said he's not convinced anything will come of the police investigation. As a result, he's helping Williams obtain legal advice. "I don't know if (the police department) will do anything," Decker said. "And I am pretty sure they're going to blow it off. But I needed to do it for me, because it bugs the hell out of me."

For his part, Williams hopes the department will hold the officers responsible for their actions, which he considers wrong. Williams said he was afraid only of losing his daughter and being knocked from his chair. "If (they) were going to do what they had to do, just lift me out of the chair and put me in the back seat," Williams said. "Don't try to throw me on the ground, because I am going to grab on (to my chair). I'm not going to let you throw me on the ground and bust my head open. I don't think anybody would let them do that."

He also hopes his story will prevent anyone else from going through a similar humiliating experience.

"If it's not me, it's somebody else," Williams said. "That's the way I see it."

Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.