WIllie L. Williams

Willie Williams, trailblazing top cop for 2 cities, dies

Willie L. Williams, who was the first black police chief in Philadelphia and in Los Angeles, where he took over in the wake of the Rodney King riots, has died. He was 72. His daughter-in-law Valerie Williams told The Associated Press that he died Tuesday evening at his home in Fayetteville, Georgia. She said he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.