On the evening of Saturday March 7th, 2020, Officer William (Billy) White was responding to a 911 call reporting a pedestrian had been struck by a car and was needing some assistance. Upon his arrival to the incident location, he made contact with two Good Samaritans who had stopped to assist the man who said they called 911 for assistance.

Officer White asked the individuals if they could move their vehicle to make room for EMS, to which they advised Officer White they were leaving since emergency help had arrived. Officer White, who then chose to ignore the injured man on the ground told the Good Samaritans he needed their information, and one of the Good Samaritans, now identified as Aron Flanagan asked Officer White what information he needed. Officer White aggressively told Aron to move the vehicle forward, to which Aron responded the vehicle wasn't his. At this point Officer White was getting upset and demanded ID from Aron and the other Good Samaritan, now identified as Aron's daughter.

Officer White continued yelling at Aron asking if he had some ID on him, with Aron telling Officer White that he did not, and asked why he was yelling at him. The event eventually lead to Officer White placing Aron under arrest for not giving him his ID, or telling him his name. Something that is not a crime in the State of Illinois. Once Officer White learned the identification of Aron, he began to release Aron from the back of the squad car without charges, but Aron told Officer White he wanted his information so he could file a complaint. Officer White told Aron if he was filing a complaint against him, he was going to jail, and locked him in the back of the squad car for transport to the Centralia Police Department, and told Aron's daughter if he's filing a complaint, he's going to jail and she can bail him out at the Police Station.

At the police station, Officer White continued to tell Aron that his refusal to provide identification was illegal in Illinois, however Aron was ultimately released from the Police Station without any charges.

This is the second event in recent years that Officer White has been involved in situations where his actions were found to be in violation of department policy, with the 2nd recent incident taking place at the Centralia High School, when Officer White rammed his patrol car into the vehicle of a young high school student returning to school during a lock-down situation.

It is the request of the community that the Centralia City Council, and the Centralia Police Chief terminate the employment of Officer William (Billy) White from the Police Department for his continued violations of the department policy, as well as his unprofessional, and unlawful actions towards members of the public.