‘Get out of town:’ Protesters call for Louisiana, MO police chief to be fired following overdose incident

LOUISIANA (KMOV) - A small town in Missouri is seeing big-time problems and corruption. On Wednesday the community rallied outside of Louisiana City Hall with demands to fire the police chief.

Louisiana, Missouri is located 90 minutes north of St. Louis.

“This is the worst police department I’ve ever seen this town have,” says resident James Minor. He needs to get out of town.

The police chief, 50-year-old William Jones, was arrested and charged in October with drug trafficking after two people overdosed in his home. One of the men died, and the other was revived with Narcan.

Jones’ girlfriend, 25-year-old Alexis Thone, was also charged. The two men who overdosed were her brothers.

During Wednesday’s protest, tensions heightened between protestors and Louisiana police family members as arguments almost turned physical.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and it’s never been this bad in this county never. It’s got people ready to start revolting,” says lifelong resident Steve Henry.

According to Mayor Tim Carter, the chief was previously fired from the Missouri Department of Corrections and was sued while working at the Vandalia Police Department.

“The current chief is wrong in everything that he did,” says resident Melody Henkee. “They knew before they hired him what he had been in trouble for before, but they still hired him.”

Wesley Richardson worked at the jail with Jones before he became head of the Louisiana Police Department.

“For you to come in and then put a damper on Louisiana when you get here, I’m not happy about that. I’m upset about that,” says Richardson.

Town Mayor Tim Carter tells News 4 he was kicked out of Wednesday’s city council meeting by the council as retaliation for speaking out against Chief Jones.

Some of the council members are calling for the mayor to be impeached.

“I just gotta hold on because I knew what kind of ride I was going to be in and I’m right in the middle of it right now,” says Carter. “We do have to restore the faith and confidence of our police department and our local government with our citizens.”

Jones is due back in court soon. He is on paid administrative leave and remains the head of the police department.

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