Detective Richard Williams, a 37-year veteran of the Atlanta Police Department and a survivor of gunshot wounds to the back and neck while on the job, died Wednesday, days before he was to retire. He was 62.
Police Chief George Turner said Detective Williams will be “sorely missed.”
“Even after being wounded and confined to a wheelchair for more than 20 years, he continued to serve our community,” Chief Turner said. “His unselfish dedication will always be remembered.”
In 1987, Detective Williams was a 13-year veteran of the police force. On Jan. 28, the schools detective arrested three young men, ages 13, 14 and 19, for disrupting classes at Booker T. Washington High School. According to articles from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Detective Williams frisked and cuffed the 19-year-old, but not the younger two.
As Detective Williams was driving the trio to the detectives’ office, the 14-year-old shot the detective twice. At the time, police officers who knew Detective Williams said he probably didn’t search the juveniles because of their age.
The shooting left Detective Williams paralyzed from the chest down, but it did not dampen his spirit, said Wilma Williams, his wife of 33 years.
“He really loved the kids,” she said. “He’d do anything for them, and he only wanted what was best for them.”
Fifteen months later, he was back on the job. The shooting might have taken the use of his legs, but it did not take his badge or his rank in the police department.
“He didn’t let the chair limit him,” said Mrs. Williams, who retired from the police department in 1998. “He was still Detective Williams.”
During an interview in 1988, Detective Williams told an AJC reporter, “I may not be able to walk, but there's nothing wrong with my mind. I'm capable of thinking.”
Mrs. Williams said her husband spent the rest of his career working with kids in the public school system. It was his passion, she said. He would try to help students before they got into trouble, she said. He was a prevention specialist, if there was such a title.
Mrs. Williams said her husband wasn't ready to retire, but he was "coming out anyway." His retirement date was Monday.
"It was a decision he finally made," she said.
Lately he hadn’t been feeling well, Mrs. Williams said. He’d gone to his college homecoming at Fort Valley State University, but thought he might have caught a cold. He was to have a chest X-ray not long before he went into respiratory distress at home, the morning of Oct. 27. Mrs. Williams said she found her husband unresponsive after he’d asked her to do something for him. She called 911, and the paramedics came to the house, but they were unable to revive him.
A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church, with burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens. Meadows Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Detective Williams is also survived by his two children, Jason Williams and Brittany Williams.
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