A 20-year-old black man was recently arrested for disorderly conduct by Evanston police. A video taken by the young man, available here, and a video taken by a bystander, available here, are posted on Facebook.
It appears that the police had made a traffic stop, and the young man was recording the incident. At times, a police officer is heard saying, “That’s enough. You’re not going to disturb this traffic stop,” … “Stay right there. Don’t come up again,” … “Get out of this road.”
The young man can be heard saying, “I’m walking. I can’t walk? I can’t walk?” … “I’m not doing anything wrong” … “I’m not doing anything wrong. I can walk. What you mean? I can walk. What the f… you mean? I can walk.” … “What do you mean? I can walk. I’m not doing nothing wrong. I’m walking. I’m recording y’all. What do you mean? What are you doing?” … “For what? For what? I’m recording. For what? I was recording y’all. For what?” … “You had no reason to stop my man like that, bro.”
An officer said, “Get off the street. I told you twice.” The young man said, “So what? I can walk.”
It appears there was a foot chase, and an officer grabbed the young man’s foot from behind, which brought the young man to the ground. The young man got up and was then brought to the ground by three police officers. The young man continued to say he had not done anything wrong. Police officers told the young man to get on the ground and to put his hands behind his back.
On May 29, the RoundTable asked Commander Brian Henry, media contact for the Evanston Police Department, if he had seen the videos and if he would comment on the incident. Commander Henry declined to comment, but said at approximately 5:10 p.m. that the City would issue a statement in an hour. The RoundTable has not received a statement from the City.
More than 3,800 people have signed a petition on Change.org asking that all charges against the young man be dropped, that an investigation of the three police officers involved be opened and that a public Evanston committee have oversight of the investigation.
A statement issued on Saturday afternoon by City Manager Eraka Storlie is available here.