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Atlanta police officer accused of letting murder suspect get away

ATLANTA — An Atlanta police officer is off the job after his fellow officers arrested him.

Former Officer Tommy Williams is accused of letting a murder suspect escape out the window of this house, and then lying to other officers about seeing the suspect run away.

We first reported Williams arrest on the Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat on Monday.

Williams is now facing several felony charges and Atlanta police have suspended him without pay.

They say Williams was with several other officers on May 14 as they surrounded the house on James P. Brawley Drive in northwest Atlanta trying to take a murder suspect into custody.

They say Williams knew the suspect and let him slip right out a window and down the street.

“I heard a bunch of confusion and they told everybody to come out of the house,” said Albert Patrick, who was inside the home at the time.

He says Jabri Mathis came running through the open front door.  Atlanta police were close behind, trying to take Mathis into custody for a murder in April.

“The guy went out that window over there and jumped that fence there,” Patrick told Channel 2’s Amy Napier Viteri.

Patrick says Mathis jumped out a window on the side of the home where police say Williams was positioned. According to the incident report, an officer behind the home saw someone running toward Griffin Street. The officer asked "asked officer Williams if anyone came out of the house and he was told ‘no.’”

Police took Mathis into custody on Griffin Street just a couple blocks away where they found him hiding under a porch. Investigators say Mathis explained to officers "he let me go" and "I ran right past him" and described Williams as being like an uncle to him.

“I think the cop should be accountable for his actions,” Patrick said.

Police had followed Mathis to the area after conducting surveillance and seeing him in southeast Atlanta. They say he jumped out of his car on James P. Brawley and that's when he barged into the home.

Police say Mathis and Williams knew each other and were seen visiting the same apartment.

APD also says Williams was given a BOLO of Mathis at least a month before the arrest and knew he was wanted.

Police say Mathis shot and killed a man in his car on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard in April.

Williams is now facing several felony charges, including violation of oath of public office, obstruction and hindering apprehension.

Atlanta police gave Viteri a statement Tuesday saying Williams is relieved of duty and is scheduled for an emergency hearing with Police Chief George Turner.

WSBTV

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