Following a press release last night from the City of Champaign (which hasn’t been posted to the City website), the News-Gazette has a story this morning entitled “Probe sought in ‘troubling’ arrest in Champaign.”
You should read the entire article, which is by Mary Schenk and Patrick Wade and is very informative, but here’s the lede:
Champaign City Manager Steve Carter and Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz have asked the Illinois State Police to review a video of the June 5 arrest of a Champaign man that contains what Carter has called “troubling” behavior by the arresting Champaign police officer.
There’s a lengthy description of the incident (caught on squad-car video) in the article from defense attorney Mark Lipton. His client was stopped for jaywalking across Green Street in Campustown:
“The officer yells, ‘Stop. Come back here,’ and ultimately gets out of his car, catches up to my client, grabs him by the arm, and starts walking him back to the squad,” Lipton said. “My client is upset and is being loud but is not fighting or trying to run away.”
“He (the officer) walks him back to the front of the squad,” he said. “My client is yelling and within two to three seconds of them getting to the front of the squad car, they stop. My guy is standing there yelling and, boom — pepper spray in the face.
The video will not be publicly available anytime soon, at least not from the City:
Carter said the city will not put the video on the city’s website — at Lipton’s request — but said anyone who sees it would “maybe have the same questions I did.”
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Recent articles related to CPD’s alleged excessive use of force: