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ST. GEORGE — A family held a press conference Friday after a drug-related case against their son was dismissed.
Adam Williams, 18, and two of his roommates were arrested by Dixie State University police officers on suspicion of possession of spice Jan. 15. His case was dismissed March 30 and his father, Leon Williams, said that since his son’s name had been cleared in court, the family now wanted to get it cleared in public opinion while at the same time bringing attention to the alleged misbehavior of campus police.
“We know without a shadow of doubt that it is a wrongful arrest,” Leon Williams said. “What we don’t understand is why the school, Dixie State University, which is supposed to protect him and look out for his well-being, helped perpetuate a lie, a lie that he was in possession of spice and that he was using spice.”
Dixie State police are sticking to their story. Campus security chief Don Reid said the officer who made the arrest has been with the department for five years and responded to the apartment with another officer after receiving a call from the complex’s resident assistant.
According to police records, the officers got permission from a roommate to check “common areas” in the apartment and found marijuana in plain sight in the bathroom. Investigators said the roommate who was home did not show any signs of having smoked marijuana, but that three roommates who returned later did, including Adam Williams.
When the officer did not receive a timely response to his application for a search warrant, which would have allowed him to investigate additional rooms, he consulted with Reid about how to proceed and decided to arrest the three students “based upon what was found in the common area, the odor on their persons, the film on their tongues and their bloodshot eyes.” The case was later dropped.
“The county attorney's office, after having been contacted by a law firm of the parents of Adam Williams, decided that it would be difficult to prove actual ownership of the marijuana and chose to drop the charges before it got to the judge, which is their prerogative by law,” a statement from Reid reads. “I have talked with attorneys who say they certainly would have had no problem trying this case in court.”
Ten days after the incident at Dixie State, Adam Williams was arrested by St. George police. Sgt. Sam Despain confirmed that Adam Williams was issued a citation for possession of marijuana and released from custody without being booked into jail.
However, Adam Williams maintains that he has never seen nor touched spice. His family said he has never come into contact with drugs of any variety. Instead, they said they believe Adam Williams and his roommates may have been targeted by Dixie State police.
Adam Williams said the officer who made the arrest followed him on his bike during fall semester and tried to come into his previous apartment as well. He moved into the apartment where he was arrested one week before the incident.
“From what I have heard around campus and from other students, I feel like it is a big problem here at Dixie State,” he said. “I feel like many students are getting targeted by certain officers by their background, gender or race.”
Leon William said the family would like to see the university apologize and admit they were wrong in how the investigation was carried out and publicized. They also want the police department to answer questions about why their son was arrested based on an investigator’s statement that he had bloodshot eyes.
“None of this constitutes, in our opinion, a probable cause whatsoever, even as so much that the prosecutors did dismiss the case immediately,” Leon Williams said. “They felt as if there was nothing there.”
Adam Williams is planning to transfer to the University of Utah. He was originally pursuing a degree in criminal justice, but said he is going to change his major to business. Even though his case was dismissed, Adam Williams said it has had a lasting effect on him. Among other things, he was fired from his campus job.
“It’s been a mixture of a lot of different feelings for me,” Adam Williams said. “I’ve had anxiety. I’ve been paranoid. For me, it’s just guilt. But there shouldn’t be any guilt because I didn’t do anything wrong. I feel like a criminal, but I shouldn’t feel like a criminal because I was dismissed.”
