An off-duty police officer foiled a burglary in August of 2019 but may lose his badge for “an egregious violation” of the department’s use-of-force policy.
Officer Noble Williams was watching television at his Hyde Park apartment in Chicago when he heard what sounded to him like a burglar in a third-floor apartment. When Williams investigated, he found Bryant Nocentilli — a thief already having been charged with two other burglaries — trying to steal a TV.
Williams, who had armed himself before leaving his apartment, engaged the thief in a fight that ended up going down the hallway and down a flight of stairs. During the struggle, Williams drew his gun and fired two shots. One bullet grazed Nocentilli’s head, but he was not seriously hurt.
The thief managed to get to his feet and run. Williams then called 911 as Nocentilli escaped. He was arrested a month later and charged with burglary and resisting a peace officer.
Nocentilli claimed he wasn’t trying to burglarize the apartment and that Williams came after him “for no reason.” He said Williams put his knee on his neck, which is when he struggled with the officer saying “he was able to push himself off the ground before Williams opened fire while standing above him on a stairwell, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) believed Nocentilli despite the thief failing to seek medical help after he was shot, despite the prosecutor failing to file any charges against Williams, and despite the Police Board refusing to take any action against Williams.
COPA recommended that Williams be fired because Nocentilli “did not pose an imminent threat” to Williams, whose “decision to use deadly force was not objectively reasonable.”
In a letter to COPA in February 2022, former Police Supt. David Brown argued the shooting was within department policy and insisted the officer should be exonerated. He said Williams should only be reprimanded for the ammunition violation.
Williams’ attorney, Tim Grace, said his client merely “tried to be the police” when he was put “in a position where be believed that he had to discharge his weapon because of how aggressive this guy was.”
“To me, it’s a valid use of force,” said Grace, who criticized COPA and said the agency has unsuccessfully been seeking to fire cops for violations that are “not at all something police officers should be terminated for.”
COPA was created because there was a widespread belief in the activist community — ACLU, NAACP — that the police could not police themselves and civilian oversight was needed.
If that was actually the goal of COPA, it might have at least given minority communities the assurance that police were not above the law. Instead, COPA was hijacked by anti-police zealots who hamstring the police and put the fear of termination in them for basically doing their jobs,
Williams made some mistakes. He failed to call 911 in a timely manner, and his gun was loaded with two different kinds of ammunition — a serious offense but not one deserving of termination. He didn’t know if he was in fear for his life, but COPA believes officers must assume they’re not in danger unless they see a weapon.
The police board will decide Williams’ fate next week.
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