Charleston police chief Luther Reynolds announces he has cancer: ‘I am in a battle’
Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds, the lawman charged with keeping South Carolina’s largest city safe, announced on Wednesday that he was diagnosed with cancer this fall.
In a memo submitted to Mayor John Tecklenburg and in a video message shared with his police department, Reynolds said he learned about his diagnosis in October and is now in a battle for his health.
That battle, he wrote in the memo, will include a rigorous treatment plan with both surgery and chemotherapy.
“While this news was met with equal parts shock and sadness from myself and my family, it was also met with our collective resolve to confront this challenge head-on,” Reynolds said in the memo, adding that he is confident after consulting with doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina that the treatment plan will “help guide me toward a cancer-free prognosis.”
Reynolds also said he has put a plan in place to keep the Holy City safe while he receives treatment.
In the memo, Reynolds said he has selected “three highly trained and exceedingly qualified deputy chiefs” who are prepared to lead the department during the times when he may be unable to lead, but he did not name who those interim leaders would be.
“There will be periods when I will probably have an acting chief deputy chief in my place if I’m in the hospital for a few days. But I will be here. I’m not going anywhere,” Reynolds said straight-to-camera in the video message shared with police department personnel.
He did not disclose the type of cancer he has in either the memo or in the video.
In an emailed statement, the mayor said he and his wife, Sandy, continue to pray for the police chief and his family. Tecklenburg also said Charleston is “blessed” to have access to “some of the most cutting-edge medical treatments available” and said Reynolds is in “extraordinarily capable hands.”
“As the chief said, he’s a fighter, and I know that he’s up for this challenge with the grace of God. And in the meantime, I have no doubt that the remarkable men and women of our Charleston Police Department will continue to carry on their mission to protect and serve our great city,” Tecklenburg said.
In the video, Reynolds recalled how one month ago the department was wearing pink for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in a show of unity and hope for more cancer research, prevention and early detection.
He wore a pink breast cancer awareness bracelet on one of his wrists as he delivered the news about his own cancer diagnosis.
“And here I am, four weeks ago almost to the day, I went in because my back was sore and I found out that now I am a person with cancer,” Reynolds said, sharing that he is optimistic about the care he is receiving not only at the hospital but from his family, the community and his faith.
“It’s something that I just wanted to make people aware of, that I am in a battle with my health,” Reynolds said. “It’s important for me to say, moving forward, I’ve got good support from MUSC and the doctors and a whole lot of other people and, most importantly, my faith.”
Reynolds was named Charleston’s police chief in April 2018.
He moved down to the South Carolina coast after serving for five years as the assistant police chief in Montgomery County, Maryland, the same agency where his career in law enforcement began in 1988.
One year after becoming Charleston’s police chief, a long-awaited independent racial bias audit of the Charleston Police Department was completed in 2019 and the department has since created a strategic plan to address some of the disparities found in the report.
Last year, Reynolds and his department faced criticism for its handling of May 30, 2020 protests in downtown Charleston. An after-action report detailed some of the missteps that night, including the department having an insufficient plan to respond to the protests as well as communication breakdowns between officers as peaceful protest gave way to violence and property damage.
“We have embraced this opportunity to improve, to learn and to achieve the best outcomes possible,” Reynolds said last year as he addressed members of the city’s committee on public safety when the after-action report was first released.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 11:01 AM.
