More than a week after a sheriff’s deputy removed council member Aaron Rawls from an open session, Martinsville Mayor L.C. Jones held a press conference Thursday evening to provide his own account of the incident.
Flanked by community members outside of Martinsville’s municipal building, Jones’ press conference was the second stemming from the March 25 incident. Both councilors Rawls and Julian Mei held their own press conference at the same location a week prior.
“A lot of different news agencies reached out to me [with] questions,” Jones said. “I only responded to a couple. I felt like by doing it this way it gives the opportunity to respond to everybody at one time.”
Jones kicked off the meeting touting the city’s accomplishments. He touched on a myriad of topics, from new housing to blight elimination, before the topic shifted to the incident.
Toward the end of the March 25 regular session, Jones took issue with Rawls’ comments about city manager pay and offered a warning. A sheriff’s deputy then approached Rawls and removed him from the meeting.
Initially people believed Jones or Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides signalled the deputy to do so. Both Ferrell-Benavides and Jones said this was not the case.
“Who gave the call, who said what, who did what, the major thing we’ve got to pay attention to is that somebody put themselves in that position,” Jones said, adding that the incident would have been different had Rawls not been removed. “I would have given him another warning, at least a third warning. Then I would have called for a recess or a closed session so that we could discuss what the issue is.”
Jones defended the deputy, saying she was following the dictates of her training. Jones said that the deputy had witnessed a prior disagreement between Jones and Rawls, which contributed to her decision to deescalate the situation.
“I believe that when she looked at everything that was in there, the things he was saying, the responses he was getting from the crowd, I think she took the totality of the circumstances at play…and made a judgement call,” Jones said. “I think she did the right thing.”
Jones said his own experience as an officer makes him hesitant to question the deputy’s actions.
“As a police officer, I know not to get involved when a police officer is taking action on something,” Jones said. “I don’t know what they see or don’t see and I’d be putting myself in danger.”
Jones admits that he has not reached out to Rawls since the incident.
“I’m always open to working with individuals, whether we agree to disagree,” Jones said. “All it is is a conversation, moving forward.”