The call to Monique Williams on Christmas night came from a friend, saying her 18-year-old son had been shot. Her husband, Michael, rushed to the scene just blocks from their South Providence home, then returned with more dire news: her son had been shot by a police officer.

Awful enough for any parent, the announcement had a special shock for Williams. For several years, she's headed a committee at DARE -- Direct Action for Rights and Equality -- that battles police misconduct.

DARE was part of a raucous City Hall protest after Officer Cornel Young Jr. was shot to death by fellow officers in 2000. And DARE has actively supported efforts to create an independent civilian review board.

But since the shooting, Williams has sounded restrained, focusing on her son's condition. She says bones in one leg were "shattered." Williams says she's in no position to dispute the police version. But she has questions.

Her quest is frustrating, because officials barred her from seeing her son, Jason F. Stanford, while he was at Rhode Island Hospital. He was transferred New Year's Day to the Adult Correctional Institutions. Stanford was under supervision, charged with felony assault, firing a gun in crowded area, and possessing a gun without a license.

Even when Colonel Richard T. Sullivan, the chief of police, visited Williams, he was firm about the no-visit policy. Sullivan said later the policy allows only a suspect's lawyer contact before arraignment; after that, he's in the custody of state marshals.

About 7:30 p.m. on Christmas, police say, Patrolman John Reposa Jr. was at a Comstock Avenue house for an unrelated complaint. Reposa heard a gunshot, then spotted a man with a gun, police said. Drawing his gun, Reposa ordered the man to stop, but he ran. After a chase past eight houses, police said, the man turned, pointing his gun at Reposa, who fired twice. Authorities say they found a gun, and inside the suspect's jacket, a bag of marijuana.

Williams isn't saying that she and her son are targets of retaliation because of DARE's work in challenging police conduct (including two incidents involving Stanford as a juvenile). But she says: "I want to know what happened and why." Her son has convictions for drug possession. But Williams says she's never known him to carry a gun.

And where was the gun? Williams says some persons at the scene did not see one. Sullivan says that's currently a confidential aspect of the investigation.

Williams says she's trying to hold herself together, hoping to learn more, troubled that she couldn't see her son at the hospital. "Let me just stand in the door," she remembers telling a nurse that first night, "so I can say, 'Jason, your mother is here, and she loves you.' "

Issue Date: January 4 - 10, 2002