Charleston Police Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Discusses Possibility Of Special Session, Trout Stocking And Secretary’s Traffic Stop

Gov. Jim Justice said he is open to a special legislative session later this year to address the state budget.

Last week, legislators were notified of a potential $465 million federal “clawback” of COVID-19 era funding regarding the state’s spending on education. Legislators like the House Finance Committee chairman, Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said the late notice has required adjustments and delays to the state’s proposed budget.

At his regular briefing Wednesday, Justice was open to the idea of a May session to address further funding but was confident that lawmakers could pass a base budget before the close of session Saturday.

“I think I know where we’re gonna stand,” he said. “We want to encourage the Senate in regard to our pay raises and our tax cuts that we have in, helping the hungry and those things that are already kind of built into my budget and everything. But as far as our one-time spending and so on like that if we want to, if we want to come back in May and try to hash that out you know I guess it’d be fine.”

Justice said Superintendent Michele Blatt has been working on the clawback issue, as has his chief of staff, and he does not believe a clawback will happen.

“We have absolutely had discussion after discussion after discussion,” he said. “We are absolute believers that absolutely the education fed folks are not going to claw back on us at all in regard to this. But let’s just see how it all plays out and everything.”

Fish Stocking

Justice also announced an agreement had been reached with the federal government to allow the state’s trout stocking program to continue. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service had removed certain waters from the trout stocking schedule due to concerns about endangered species.

As part of the agreement, West Virginia University will study trout feeding habits in an effort to protect the endangered candy darter, Guyandotte River crayfish and Big Sandy crayfish.

“At the end of the day, we don’t want to endanger any endangered species,” Justice said. “We don’t want to do anything that’s going to harm our environment in any way. We just want to do the right stuff.”

The agreement between the state Department of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife allows stocking to resume in four streams in four southern West Virginia counties. The stockings will now take place in May in Greenbrier, Nicholas, Wyoming and Mercer counties.

Update To Secretary Wriston’s Traffic Stop

For the third week in a row, Justice also addressed the traffic stop of West Virginia Department of Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston by Charleston Police in February.

“I just don’t get all this stuff but we have every reason to believe now that Jimmy Wriston was just set up,” Justice said. “That’s all there is to it. And from our standpoint, we’re waiting. We’re waiting on the Charleston Police Department and Kanawha County prosecutor to bring us a lot more information in regard to that.”

Wriston was not charged or cited at the time of the stop. A release from the Charleston Police the following day stated an investigation was underway, and a later update said “the person who contacted Metro Communications to report erratic driving by the vehicle involved in this incident was not a WV State Trooper.”

A later update stated that, “CPD officers were not able to find probable cause to arrest Mr. Wriston based on the fact that Mr. Wriston passed two field sobriety tests that were conducted.”

The update does note that an “odor of alcohol” was indicated by a preliminary breath test, “however, CPD Officers on the scene believed that the test was inconclusive and inconsistent with other tests being performed that Mr. Wriston passed.”

The Charleston Police Department has opened a criminal investigation into the person who called 911 to report the erratic driving “to determine if the information they provided CPD Officers was accurate and truthful.”

Community Seeks Police Reform After Shooting On Charleston's West Side

On April 30, Charleston Police officers shot Denaul Dickerson, a 33-year-old Black man, while attempting to make an arrest on Charleston’s West Side. The incident has left many people in the community wondering why police resorted to shooting Dickerson who had brandished a knife.

Later that day, Charleston Police Department Chief Tyke Hunt held a press conference to address the officer-involved shooting. At the press conference, Hunt played body-worn camera footage of the incident.

In the footage, Dickerson can be seen having a conversation when he suddenly sprints away a few yards away. Dickerson begins walking away when he pulls out a knife and tells police to shoot him. “I told you all last time to kill me,” screamed Dickerson, as he moved away from police.

People who had interacted with Dickerson before, including Hunt, said they believe he suffers from mental health issues. Audio from the footage shows Dickerson asked police officers to shoot him nine times in the three minutes he was pursued before being shot.

The footage also revealed conversations among officers where they expressed disbelief that none of what appeared to be 20 officers on the scene had a Taser. One officer said, “We ain’t got a Taser. Nobody’s got a Taser. Nobody’s got one.” Another officer on the radio was heard saying, “Requesting any unit that’s got a Taser. We ain’t got a single taser out here?”

When an officer with a Taser finally arrived, after a three-minute pursuit on foot, the Taser was deployed, but it failed to attach to Dickerson.

Shortly after the Taser was used unsuccessfully, several officers began to move in on Dickerson. When they got within approximately 20 feet of him, Dickerson stopped walking away and faced the officers. The police opened fire, shooting five rounds at Dickerson who fell to the ground and began crying. Multiple officers exclaimed “Shots fired!” and began administering medical care to Dickerson.

When asked by a reporter at the press conference why only one out of what looked like 20 officers had a Taser, Hunt said a lot of his officers aren’t current on their Taser recertifications.

“Tasers do require recertification and, unfortunately, the COVID pandemic really hampered us getting instructors here to recertify our officers.”

Two days after the shooting, protesters gathered on the steps of Charleston’s City Hall to speak out against what they see as another act of violence against Black people in Charleston by the police.

Protestors gather two days after the shooting of Denaul Dickerson on the steps of city hall in Charleston, W.Va., Sunday, May 2, 2021.

“I feel like we’re just consistently being gas-lit as a community when it comes to addressing our needs,” said Takeiya Smith, a youth and racial justice organizer in Charleston.

Smith said she and others have spent years trying to get city officials to develop a mental health intervention team. According to Smith, an intervention team would show up when people are having mental health crises in public and find a solution that wouldn’t result in violence.

“We have given the city and elected officials solutions to these really complex problems, such as mental health, and community engagement. And, we just haven’t made the progress that we should have made by this point.” she said.

Youth and racial justice organizer Takeiya Smith reads a prepared speech outlining community frustrations in getting police reforms to happen in Charleston, W.Va., Sunday, May 2, 2021.

Smith said two years ago, a young, Black woman who was having a mental health crisis on the West Side was met with an officer mounting her and punching her in the back of the head repeatedly. After that incident, city officials promised to do better. But, she said no real change has come about since then.

A common point brought up by protesters at the event was a recent request by the Charleston Police Department for gas masks. Two weeks ago, Charleston City Council approved $200,000 for CPD to buy gas masks. Yet, the protestors said they’ve been told the city doesn’t have money for a mental health intervention team and they question the spending priorities.

“The only reason the city is getting gas masks is because we were protesting last year and they saw what happened around the world. And, they don’t want that to happen here,” said Martec Washington, an activist who lives on Charleston’s West Side.

Activist Martec Washington addresses a crowd of protesters about police spending and a lack of officer training in Charleston, W.Va., Sunday, May 2, 2021.

Washington added that all of the protests that have happened for racial equality in Charleston have so far been peaceful.

“All we did was stop a little bit of traffic, and inconvenience people like Black people are inconvenienced every day by walking out of their door and just living life. So I mean, to me, this is like spitting in my face.”

Washington said money spent on riot gear would be better spent preventing what he thinks are incidents of police violence that he says people end up having to protest later.

“If you can spend $200,000 for gas masks, you can spend $200,000 for a couple people to come help some of these homeless people get up off the streets, so that we can prevent people from being out here saying that they’re gonna stab somebody,” he said, referring to Dickerson who Charleston residents have identified as someone who experiences homelessness.

Chad Carpenter addresses Charleston City Council as a public speaker, asking the council to develop a mental health intervention team in Charleston, W.Va. Monday, May 3, 2021.

The following day at a Charleston City Council Meeting, five of the seven public speakers, including Washington and Hunt, spoke before the council about the shooting of Dickerson. However, none of the council members who were present brought it up. Dickerson was still in the ICU at a Charleston area hospital at the time this article was published.

Note: The City of Charleston announced today that it has hired a mental health coordinator to oversee the work of a mental health response team.

Funeral Services, Street Closures Set For Officer Cassie Johnson’s Funeral

Funeral services for Charleston Police Officer Cassie Johnson will take place Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center according to a statement from the city.

Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon with services starting at noon.

Family, friends, law enforcement officers and first responders as well as the general public are now welcome to attend. Social distancing measures will be in place and face coverings will be required.

Johnson was shot after responding to a parking complaint on the city’s north side on Dec. 1. She lived several days on life support and she donated her organs upon her death.

The man accused of shooting Johnson, Joshua Phillips, was shot twice in the torso. Police expect him to survive his injuries and the city plans to charge him with first-degree murder.

The services will be broadcast and live-streamed.

The funeral procession will travel from the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center and turn west on Quarrier Street and then north on Pennsylvania Ave. North where it will enter the interstate at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital on-ramp.

The procession will then go north on Interstate 77 to the Tupper’s Creek exit (Exit 111). Once off the exit, the procession will go east on Call Road to Route 21 North. The procession will end at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens.

Street closures will begin at 6 a.m. and should reopen by 5 p.m. They will include Quarrier Street at Truslow Street, Clendenin Street at Virginia Street East (northbound), Clendenin Street between Quarrier Street and Lee Street, and the two far-right lanes of Lee Street between the bridge and Clendenin Street. All closed city streets should reopen at approximately 5 p.m.

No Outside Agency Probing Fatal Charleston Police Wreck

Charleston police have not asked any outside agency to investigate a wreck in which a woman died after her car collided with a city police cruiser that apparently did not have its sirens on.

Charleston Police Chief Brent Webster told the Charleston Gazette-Mail in an email that investigators have been working with the Kanawha County Prosecutor’s Office to objectively review details of the Jan. 4 collision.

Webster says Officer Stephen Doss was responding to a report of an armed burglary when he crashed into the unidentified woman’s car. She died five days later.

He says a preliminary investigation has found that Doss was speeding and did not activate the cruiser’s emergency lights or sirens.

Charleston police asked the West Virginia State Police to investigate a similar incident in 2005.

Police: Slain Teen Had BB Gun in Waistband, Nothing in Hands

A black West Virginia teenager had a BB gun in his waistband but nothing in his hands when he was fatally shot by a white man, a police detective has testified.

According to police, 15-year-old James Means was shot in the chest and in the back Nov. 21 by 62-year-old William Pulliam after they bumped into each other outside a Charleston store and twice exchanged words.

Police said Pulliam showed no remorse and told investigators, “That’s another piece of trash off the street.”

Pulliam, who faces a first-degree murder charge, said in a jailhouse interview that he shot in self-defense after he felt threatened.

“He told me that he shot him because he was hassling him,” Charleston Police Det. Chris Lioi testified during Pulliam’s preliminary hearing Thursday.

According to Lioi, Means had a BB gun in his waistband, though video footage showed nothing in his hands when he was killed.

“James Means had nothing in his hands and I observed Mr. Pulliam pull out a gun and discharge one round. James Means then falls to the ground. As he gets up, William Pulliam fires another round,” Lioi said.

The detective also said that audio captured from the footage suggested Pulliam knew the BB gun was a toy.

“That toy gun is going to get you (expletive) killed,” Lioi said Pulliam could be heard saying before Means was shot.

“No, it’s not,” Means responded, according to the detective.

Pulliam’s attorney, Richard Holicker, said neither he nor his client have seen the footage, and he argued that prosecutors should play it in court.

“Hopefully, one day the state will let us see the video so we’ll know what happened,” Holicker said in his closing statement. “The fact that Mr. Pulliam shot Mr. Means doesn’t make this a first-degree murder,” he said.

A Kanawha County magistrate found probable cause to send the case to a grand jury.

Charleston Officers to Have Body Cameras Soon

All police officers in Charleston will soon be outfitted with body cameras.

WCHS-TV reports all officers who interact with the public will have body cameras by the end of fall. Currently, only a handful of officers wear them.

Lt. Steve Cooper says officers think the body cameras will make their job easier. Police say they hope the cameras are an added layer of protection for officers and the public.

A federal grant is being used to pay for the cameras, which cost about $1,000 each.