Midlands police chief didn’t fire officer accused of shooting child with TASER
A police chief in the South Carolina Midlands did not fire an officer who was under investigation for shooting a child in the head with a stun gun.
Springdale Police Department Chief Andrew Richbourg allowed Carl Wilhelm to resign after the now-former officer was criminally investigated for more than a month by state agents.
The State attempted to reach Wilhelm but could not contact him. His lawyer is not yet publicly listed.
On April 21, while at the Springdale police headquarters, then-officer Carl Brooks Wilhelm, 36, was having a conversation with another officer when the child, who has not been publicly identified, interrupted, according to warrants. Wilhelm shot the child in the head with his X26 TASER stun gun, according to arrest warrants. The TASER’s metal barb, which sticks into flesh like a fishhook, had to be surgically removed from the child.
Two other Springdale officers witnessed the TASER shooting and gave statements to investigators, the warrants said. The child told agents that Wilhelm had used the TASER before to scare him.
Richbourg immediately began an internal investigation, he said, but soon turned it over to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division “to ensure transparency.”
“After the incident, he never worked another day for Springdale PD,” said Richbourg, who did not specifically answer questions about whether Wilhelm was suspended.
The incident occurred on April 21. Wilhelm’s police record showed he resigned from the Springdale Police Department about a month later, on May 25. The next day, SLED charged Wilhelm with child neglect and misconduct in office.
Wilhelm had worked for Springdale since July 2019. In March, he was the police department’s employee of the month, according to social media posts.
It’s common for police agencies to fire officers who are being criminally investigated for even minor offenses before the investigations conclude.
The distinction between an officer being fired and resigning can have a major impact on his ability to be hired by another law enforcement agency.
When an officer departs from an agency, the agency has to file paperwork with the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. The agency can list the officer as resigned, terminated without misconduct or terminated with misconduct as well as other designations.
When the agency files a termination with misconduct, that is reflected on the officer’s police record for the public and other agencies to see. Termination with misconduct also begins the process to suspend and possibly strip an officer of his or her license to police in the state.
A resignation filing does none of that, allowing an officer to move to another agency with less scrutiny about his police career.
Wilhelm’s police record says he resigned, though it does note that he resigned while under investigation. It also notes the criminal charges.
Speaking generally and not specifically about the Springdale case, state Criminal Justice Academy Director Jackie Swindler said that an officer who resigns under criminal investigation or while facing charges can still be hired by another police agency. When it’s noted in the officer’s record that the officer resigned while being investigated or charged, that lets the agency know it should be extremely cautious if hiring that officer and that the agency is opening itself up to liability, Swindler said.
After a criminal charge is filed, an agency can amend an officer’s paperwork to say terminated with misconduct, Swindler said.
Richbourg could change how Wilhelm left the department in the official police records.
A background check, like all new officers have to go through, brings up any past charges. But if charges are dropped, those criminal records can be expunged from background checks.
Charges being dropped typically mean that a person was innocent of the exact police allegations. But not always. Sometimes charges are dropped because victims or those close to victims don’t want to go through a criminal case.
The TASER incident was not the first time Wilhelm’s fellow officers accused him of wrongdoing. In October 2018, the Columbia Police Department fired Wilhelm, according to his personnel file, which The State obtained from the Springdale Police Department through the Freedom of Information Act. He started as a Columbia officer in 2011. It was his first police job.
Wilhelm’s police record said he was fired from the Columbia Police Department for violating department policy, although he was not cited for misconduct. The record lists substandard performance, excessive absenteeism and sleeping on duty as examples of policy violations not involving misconduct.
His Springdale personnel file said he had been suspended from the Columbia Police Department three separate times: in 2017, he was suspended for two days for violating policy on “courtesy/professionalism;” in 2015 he was suspended for a day following a traffic accident and in 2012 he was suspended for one day for “falling asleep.”
Wilhelm also received written reprimands for “unnecessary force,” failure to report and a body camera violation, documents show.
It’s common for officers who have been fired from one department to be hired at another and then face further allegations of inappropriate behavior, according to an article from the Associated Press. Officers who are ousted from one or more departments but continue to find jobs are sometimes referred to as “wandering officers.”
It’s also common for wandering officers who are fired from a job at a larger department to get a job at a smaller police department — as was the case with Wilhelm, according to a 2020 study from Duke University.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 2:14 PM.