Later, he choked back tears when describing how three officers died at the hospital.

“I think about it every day, that I was unable to save those cops when they came here that night,” Williams said at an emotional news conference Monday. “It weighs on my mind constantly.”

Williams is also a black man who said he was deeply affected by “the preceding days of more black men dying at the hands of police officers.” He understands the anger directed toward police and has had his own run-ins with officers in which he feared for his life.

He straddles both worlds. Last week’s experience was “a turning point in my life,” he said.

“There’s this dichotomy where I’m standing with law enforcement, but I personally feel and understand the angst that comes when you cross an officer in uniform,” he said Monday. “I’ve been there. I understand that. But for me, that does not condone disrespecting or killing police officers.”