In a recent incident, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer has been arrested and charged with assault. Officer Onesiphorus Bernard Williams encountered law enforcement in a distinctly different role yesterday when he was taken into custody following a Domestic Violence Assault with a Deadly Weapon call.
According to official reports, CMPD officers arrived to intervene at the North Tryon Division shortly before 5:30 a.m. Officer Williams, although off-duty at the time of the incident, was swiftly transported to the Law Enforcement Center for interviewing. It was there that Williams was formally charged and began to truly understand the gravity of the situation—that law enforcement’s shield can quickly become a shackle.
Following the interview, the charged officer was moved to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office. He now faces two counts of Assault by Pointing a Gun, a serious accusation precipitating not just a criminal investigation but also a concurrent inquiry by CMPD Internal Affairs. It's a circumstance that cleaves close to the bone of community trust, shaking the foundations of the pact sworn between officer and citizen.
Meanwhile, the department has sidelined Officer Williams, placing him on unpaid administrative leave as per standard protocol. This temporary status is tethered closely to the outcome of the internal investigation. Hired on October 24, 2022, and assigned to the South Division, Williams' career trajectory within CMPD has been abruptly, perhaps irrevocably, altered. The report on this case is identified as 20241224-0529-01.
