FLINT, MI - The Flint Police Department's involvement in investigating the recall of Mayor Karen Weaver came under fire in court Tuesday as multiple petition signers told the judge they had been ordered by police to testify in the mayor's civil suit.

Two witnesses called to testify by Weaver's attorney also levied accusations of bribery against the mayor's administration.

After listening to testimony from four Flint voters who said they were directed in house visits and phone calls from police to come to court on Tuesday, Aug. 29, Genesee County Judge Geoffrey L. Neithercut paused the mayor's attorney's exam to ask a question of his own.

"The statute says we authorize either the county sheriff or civil process servers to serve subpoenas, so I don't understand why Flint city police officers are involved in a civil suit - what's that all about?" Neithercut asked while leaning back in his chair and peering over his glasses at Weaver's attorney, Kendall Williams.

"I can't speak to that, judge," responded Williams.

"Wow," said Neithercut. "That may affect credibility issues on this case."

The explosive hearing marked the third day in court and second day of testimony in a lawsuit filed by the embattled Flint mayor, requesting Neithercut to order Genesee County Clerk John Gleason to call off the recall.

One by one, under oath, four of the mayor's witnesses testified they had been summoned to court by police after signing the recall petition, while two petition circulators claimed they were offered bribes by Weaver or City Administrator Sylvester Jones to stop collecting recall signatures.

After the hearing, Williams maintained that it was his understanding that the petition signers had volunteered to come to court on their own volition.

On Friday, Williams told MLive-The Flint Journal that the signatories - who at the time he said were willing to testify that they were misled or duped into signing to recall Weaver - had no relation to the ongoing Flint police criminal investigation into the potentially fraudulent petitions.

"They've had people call and say, 'Hey, I didn't write my name on this,'" Williams previously said. "Not involved with (the police investigation) at all ... We've got a list of people. That's what we've been doing, frankly, since this was done, we've been trying to gather the evidence because I can't come to court with allegations, I have to have the evidence to support this was done."

However, all four of the petition signers who testified Tuesday said they were brought in by police.

According to testimony, two "undercover" Flint police officers knocked on resident Alisha Newsome's door, while officers called resident Tanisha Breedlove three times - twice last night and once this morning - to confirm her court appearance.

Newsome and Breedlove, along with Jequell Norfleet and Evelyn Spence - a mother and son duo who said they signed the recall petition outside a grocery store - were called to the stand in relation to a recall petition circulated by Lakeshia Williams.

Lakeshia Williams - who said she works as a paid petition circulator for the last decade - also took the witness stand Tuesday, testifying she had been told by City Administrator Sylvester Jones that he could help improve her housing situation in the Atherton East public housing apartments in exchange for discontinuing her circulation of the recall petitions.

Attorney Kendall Williams made clear that he subpoenaed Lakeshia Williams to come to court.

Lakeshia Williams said she met with Jones twice, as well as with Weaver and a Flint police officer dressed in civilian clothes to discuss the recall petitions.

"It took me a while to turn (the petitions) in, she had me feeling some type of way ... I felt kind of sorry for (Weaver)," Lakeshia Williams said.

Jones denied Lakeshia Williams' claims.

"That's just not true," Jones said of the circulator's story. "I was just trying to get her help, but I would never discriminate against someone if they were passing petitions ... that's a citizen. Our work should speak for itself."

Weaver - in a statement through city spokesperson Kristin Moore - echoed Jones' sentiment, calling the allegations "completely false."

"No one was ever told that," the mayor's statement said.

Before her testimony began, Lakeshia Williams immediately told Neithercut that she felt uncomfortable and did not want to proceed without a lawyer.

Neithercut questioned Kendall Williams whether the woman was under criminal investigation, which the attorney denied.

However, the petition circulator from Flint's south side previously told MLive-The Flint Journal she had been questioned by Flint Police Detective Tyrone Booth. She claims she was told to go to the department to file a complaint regarding officers knocking on doors in her apartment building in relation to the recall petitions.

But when Lakeshia Williams walked into the police station, she said she was immediately led upstairs by Booth, who began to read her her Miranda Rights.

"I was literally scared out of my mind," the circulator said. "(Booth) said, 'I can lock you up right now, I've got 48 affidavits right here where people signed and said it was you (who tricked them into signing the mayoral recall petition).' He said he could write a warrant for my arrest (that night) ... He was trying to get me to confess that I wrote in the dates, but like I said, I didn't ... I didn't mess with anybody, man."

Petition circulator Nancy Burgher also testified that Jones offered to help her make several damage claims on her husband's mobile home park "go away" while she was collecting signatures in front of City Hall.

"He said, 'C'mon, Nancy, you can stop this,'" Burgher said.

"I said, 'Sylvester, you're just giving people reason to sign' ... and then he scurried back into City Hall," Burgher said.

Jones was not immediately available for comment on Burgher's testimony.

This isn't the first time the police department's involvement in the mayoral recall efforts has come into question.

Records -- obtained by MLive-The Flint Journal via Freedom of Information Act request -- show Flint Police Officer Kristopher Jones as on the city's dime when he used a check from Weaver's campaign funds to purchase copies of the recall petitions his department is investigating.

Jones' time card showed that at the time of the purchase, he was conducting "surveillance at a location in the city of Flint" as a member of the city's Crime Area Target Team, a specialized unit created by Police Chief Tim Johnson to proactively deter violent crime.

After distributing a press release stating that the department was investigating a formal criminal complaint alleging that residents were tricked into signing the recall petition against Weaver, police were spotted knocking on doors in the community to question voters on whether they signed to remove the mayor, a move Gleason testified he believes is "voter intimidation."

However, despite dispersing the release to local media containing allegations against petitioners, the city refused to release a copy of a criminal complaint to MLive-The Flint Journal - requested through the Freedom of Information Act - citing the open case's active investigation.

Flint police declined to comment on the Tuesday's court proceedings.

"The city of Flint Police Department has received several requests for a response to sworn testimony, given today in Circuit Court on a civil proceeding," Booth said in a statement issued Tuesday evening. "Due to the testimony given, at the open of business tomorrow, the Police Department will request transcripts from today's court proceedings.



"Receipt of this documentation will allow the police department to take a detailed look at the sworn statements and respond in the most appropriate manner."

Neithercut requested written witness summary documents from all attorneys involved in the lawsuit by noon on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

Future court dates have not yet been scheduled in the matter.