Woman wants answers about son’s death

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The SBI is investigating the death of a Pender County man. Michael Williams, 32, died about two weeks ago. Now, his mother is speaking out about what she says was negligence on the part of first responders.

Deborah Williams says Michael wasn’t feeling like himself on the morning of April 18. She says he was dropping things and falling over, and then he had a seizure. Paramedics arrived to the scene and called for back-up from the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.

Deborah Williams was at home when she got a call from her brother that her son was having a seizure. Williams was told that paramedics could not get control of Michael. According to witnesses, when sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene, a number of men held Michael down and handcuffed his hands and shackeled his feet.

Michael was rushed to the Pender Memorial Hospital, where he later died. Williams says her brother’s house was taped off with crime scene tape after Michael left for the hospital. She says she wants to know the truth about what happened to her son.

“I keep having nightmares of what he looked like the last few minutes of his life,” Deborah Williams said. “And I want answers for my son. And I want everyone to know that I’ll fight until the end for my son.”

When WWAY called the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, they told us to call the SBI. The SBI says the Sheriff’s Office requested the investigation because Michael Williams died in custoday.

Williams says the Pender County Sheriff’s Office made no attempts to contact her after her son’s death. She says all she wants is an answer to why he was handcuffed and shackeled. Deborah says she’s been able to handle Michael’s seizures by herself for 32 years and that it should not have taken more than five people to control michael during his seizure.