A substitute teacher was escorted from a suburban Minnesota high school last week after he was alleged to have reenacted the prone restraint that caused the 2020 death of George Floyd.
Steve Williams, 46, will never teach again, school officials said, and his incredibly poor judgment could also cost him his job as a police officer in Prescott, Wisconsin. Williams, a two-year veteran of the force, was placed on administrative leave by Prescott Police Chief Eric Michaels, who called the allegations “very disturbing, reprehensible and we in no way condone his actions.”
The Floyd reenactment was just the tip of an iceberg stacked with reckless conduct and inappropriate comments. In a letter to parents sent Tuesday, East Washington County School officials said Williams, who had an active license to work as a substitute, repeatedly “invaded students’ space,” “holding up a gun and pointing it at (them).”
“I would use the word deranged, it was just, like, unbelievable,” Woodbury High School Principal Sarah Sorenson-Wagner told a Minnesota TV station.
Williams is also alleged to have told sexist jokes and “repeatedly made racially harmful comments.” He is also accused of asserting “cops would be the best criminals” because “they know how to get away with stuff” and “stated that police brutality isn’t real,” the letter to parents stated.
Minnesota state Sen. Nicole Mitchell wrote on X that she “was concerned to hear about a racist incident yesterday with a substitute at Woodbury H.S. (my alma mater). The update today is so much worse than I could’ve imagined. Thank you to the students who spoke up. Our schools must be a safe for all children.”
In the reenactment of Floyd’s murder, Williams allegedly used his knee to pin a student’s head on the ground, twisting his arm behind his back and showing pressure points on the chin and the face.
Floyd, who was Black, died after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, pinned his neck to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd’s dying pleas of “I can’t breathe” became a rallying cry for protesters nationwide demonstrating against racial discrimination and police misconduct. Chauvin was ultimately convicted of murder.
Williams told school officials he thought students might be interested in hearing about his life as a police officer. His alleged misconduct all took place on Monday, spread over four classes of 10th and 12th graders.
Students said Williams disclosed names of people he had investigated and shared “explicit details” about two sexual assaults he worked. Williams is also accused of speaking in “disturbing detail” about dead bodies he had seen. He even bragged he once got an “A” on a paper he wrote about how to get away with murder.
Sorenson-Wagner said roughly 90 students were exposed to the part-time educator.
“I think the kids just feel really weird about it,” she said. “They knew it was wrong, but they didn’t know how to stop it.”
About 37 percent of South Washington County School students identify as a race other than white.
A 2019 Woodbury High graduate said the incident was “so troubling” while pointing out that Chauvin graduated from high school in South Washington County.
In her letter to parents, Sorenson-Wanger apologized for the “racial harm” directed at students and said she was “embarrassed.”
“The reported actions are not, and will not, be tolerated at Woodbury High School or in South Washington County Schools.”
Woodbury Police Chief Jason Posel said in a statement Wednesday his department is investigating the incident “while showing compassion to the students impacted.”
