Ex-FL Captain in Snapchat Scandal: Media Twisted Truth

LAKELAND — Former Polk County Fire Rescue Capt. James Williams denied ever putting anyone's life in danger and blamed the media for twisting facts in the fallout from a Nov. 23 fatal fire in rural North Lakeland.

"The media does what they do best and twist the truth for ratings not realizing what they are doing to the people that are out trying to save people's lives day in and day out," Williams wrote Tuesday in his resignation letter. "I have made a few mistakes along the way but none that has ever put a patient's life or well-being in jeopardy."

An outside investigation is underway to determine if Williams and other firefighters properly handled the fire that killed Lorretta Pickard, 76, in her Rockridge Road home. A battalion chief has said that an attempt at rescue was "dangerous in every way to responders," but Williams and a fellow firefighter should have put on masks and grabbed tools to try and rescue Pickard.

Separate from the outside investigation, an internal inquiry found that Williams violated three county policies related to shooting videos at fire scenes, including the public records policy by shooting videos then deleting the items, Assistant Fire Chief Rick Parnell wrote to Chief Tony Stravino on Monday.

"There is strong evidence, through his testimony, that Captain Williams has violated this policy and also Fire Rescue's Social Media Networking Policy 108 on multiple occasions from this investigation," Parnell wrote. "By refusing to submit his phone Captain Williams was insubordinate, and failed to comply with the Code of Conduct requirement to fully cooperate during an investigation."

Parnell then went on to recommend immediate termination of Williams.

The investigation also centered around whether Williams violated a policy involving access to the Criminal Justice Information System.

Williams did not have full access to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Criminal Justice Information System, which enables firefighters to have access to the computer-aided dispatch system. That system gives firefighters and emergency workers certain data, such as previous law enforcement or emergency calls that have been made to a certain address.

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Williams told an internal investigator he spoke with someone who told him his access was denied, but since he was promoted prior to a certain date that he had been "grandfathered" into the system.

In 2017, Williams had access to the system even though he should have been denied because of a previous felony arrest when he was 17.

In October 2018, Williams received a message that his access had been denied.

The investigation reveals that a timeline provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office shows its human resources department was not aware that the agency's IT department had given Williams access.

The timeline shows that Polk Fire and Rescue was notified that Williams' access was denied because of his criminal history when his fingerprints were submitted. Then in July 2015, Williams' name was on a list with 17 other fire employees to have CJIS access. At the request of Polk County Fire Rescue, the Sheriff's Office submitted a CJIS access review request to confirm Williams shouldn't have access.

On Nov. 30, 2018, the Sheriff's Office confirmed that Williams' account had been disabled.

The Williams incident prompted the IT department at the Sheriff's Office to develop a new process to flag employees requiring confirmation for access approval, according to the report.

The internal report also shows that Williams may have shot videos at fires more than twice. He was first suspended for 24 hours without pay for shooting video at the fatal Rockridge Road fire. In February, he was placed on desk duty as county officials began a second investigation after WTSP Channel 10 News reported that Williams shot a video at a house fire days before the fatal fire that claimed the life of Pickard.

During an interview, Williams was asked how many times he's taken videos at fires.

"I can't put a number on that, but I mean, it's not a regular type thing that I do, no, sir," Williams said. "This fire was so long ago I ---- I mean, the month of November I think I ran four or five fires."

Williams then said the videos had been taken off his phone. Asked when he deleted the videos, Williams said he couldn't give an honest answer.

"I really don't know," Williams said.

In his resignation letter, Williams wishes his fellow firefighters well.

"To my friends in the field continue to keep up the good work and keep your heads up there is always light at the end of the tunnel," Williams wrote.

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