The Law Enforcement Legal Defense (LELD) posted a thread on their Twitter account explaining how one sheriff's deputy has been targeted by the local district attorney's office for how he brought a hardened criminal into custody.
LELD said suspect William Cane had been busted with cocaine, meth, and heroin and got charged with a felony probation violation, drug dealing in 2021. Later that same year, he was back on the streets dealing drugs again.
Then-Bladen County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Shaw pulled Cane over for speeding:
During the stop, Michael saw ammunition in Cain’s glove compartment. As a convicted felon, Cain was prohibited from possessing ammunition. It also raised Michael’s concern that Cain could be illegally carrying a firearm. Just then, Cain took off in the truck, leading deputies on a dangerous, 11-mile high speed pursuit until he crashed into a dark pond in a rural, unlit area. Michael and another deputy were able to get Cain into handcuffs on the edge of the pond, but not before Michael had to use force, by a minor “stunning” strike to the head, to get Cain safely arrested.
It is because of that strike to the head, the Bladen County District Attorney's Office filed a charge for assault. Shaw had to resign from his position.
Shockingly, the local DA decided to charge Deputy Shaw with a crime for that minor use of necessary force. pic.twitter.com/qmfoL0d7pH
— Law Enforcement Legal Defense (@LELDF) June 21, 2023
In the time since, Shaw went to another county sheriff's office but was forced to leave after being with them less than a week.
"Shaw was forced to resign—leaving him unemployed while facing a long, expensive legal battle to clear his name.When he secured employment with another department and relocated his family, anti-police activists mobbed local officials and protested until he was again forced out," LELD said.
As his wife Melinda told us, “I used to imagine having to tell our children that daddy had been seriously injured—or that worse, he wasn't coming home... how do you tell your children daddy isn't coming home because our own government is prosecuting him for doing his job?”
— Law Enforcement Legal Defense (@LELDF) June 21, 2023
Editor's note: Original story incorrectly stated the Brunswick County DA's office had filed charges against Shaw. It is the Bladen County DA's office.