HAZARD, Ky. (LEX 18) — The city commission of Hazard voted unanimously Monday night to fire city police chief Darren Williams, city manager Tony Eversole and the police department confirmed Tuesday.
Williams is currently at the center of two ongoing lawsuits. One of the lawsuits was filed by Dallas Campbell, a Hazard man who said he was wrongfully arrested while trying to file an open records request with the department. The other lawsuit was filed by Williams’ former deputy chief, who says she was retaliated against for reporting an allegation against him of excessive force.
Eversole did not give the reason for the city’s decision to fire Williams, saying only that the city wanted to go in a different direction. Eversole also noted that Kentucky is an “at-will” state and that the city is already working to fill the position. The firing was effective immediately.
One of Campbell’s attorneys said that the city could have acted sooner.
“I am surprised at the speed of which they reacted once this became an issue in the media and once it became an issue on social media and they began to feel that pressure,” said Rex Kilburn, the attorney who represented Campbell in his misdemeanor criminal case. “But I don't want that to be confused with the length of time in which they did not react. It was not until the pressure was directed to them from the community and public and from the press, that's when they chose to react.”
Campbell was charged with second-degree disorderly conduct and menacing in July after Williams and a woman working the front desk noticed that he was recording his attempt to submit an open records request. The charges were recently dismissed after prosecutors saw Campbell’s video of the incident.
Campbell said that his arrest should have been enough for action to be taken, saying that the allegation against him in the citation was inconsistent with what his video of the incident showed.
The citation stated that: “On 07/29/2024, Dispatch advised that Chief Williams needed assistance in the lobby with a male that was being loud and argumentative toward the records clerk Amber Hensley. The male was asked to leave several times, the male refused to comply, and then became aggressive toward Chief Williams. Chief Williams feared for his safety and the safety of the records clerk Amber Hensley.”
“They wrote that up in legit one minute,” Campbell told LEX 18 Tuesday. “It didn't take them one minute to write that up, and is that what you all saw on that video?”
Campbell said he hopes that Williams’ firing will be an opportunity for a change.
“I do think there obviously needs to be more training on open records and how the police department can be more transparent and maybe retrain some of the officers,” Campbell said.
