IL Police Assault Innocent, Cooperative Man After Racist Woman Reports He Stole His Own Car

Dash camera video released by police in a suburb of Chicago shows a man being assaulted even though he’s completely innocent and not resisting in any way. Evanston, Il. police had stopped Lawrence Crosby, a black man, because a racist woman that saw him working on his car assumed that he must be stealing it. She called to police to report it and then began following him as he drove to the Northwestern University campus, where he is attending as a graduate student.

Soon after, Crosby was pulled over by a group of unnamed Evanston police officers, after having initially (correctly) thought that someone suspicious was following him. He can then be seen on the video stepping out of the vehicle, raising his arms when told to, and attempting to get down on the ground as he had also been instructed to.

However, before he can finish doing so, at least five cops rush forward and beginning assaulting him. As they throw him to the ground he is kneed at least once by one of the officers. Then after he is already on the ground being held down, several of the officers can be seen punching him as they yell, “stop resisting!” repeatedly.

Crosby can be heard on the audio from an officer’s microphone telling them that he is not resisting. He also informs them that they are being recorded in an effort to stop them from beating him any further. Although it hasn’t yet been released publicly, Crosby also had a dash cam of his own within the car, with which he recorded the entire incident.

Via Fox32Chicago.com:

On October 10, 2015, Lawrence Crosby was working on his car around 7:00 PM when a woman passing by saw what she thought was an African American man breaking into a vehicle and stealing it. She called 9-1-1 and then followed the vehicle, relaying information to the dispatcher about the location.

“Hi somebody’s trying to break into, somebody’s trying to break into a car,” the woman told the dispatcher. ”I Think the person just got into the car.”

Crosby, an engineering doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, was driving from his apartment to campus when he was stopped. He had his own dashcam video recording in his car, and before the stop, he can be heard talking to someone saying he thought he was being followed. He was reportedly headed to the police station because of those suspicions, when police pulled him over in a church parking lot.

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The dashcam video shows him get out with his hands up with a cellphone in his hand and he then gets taken down by officers who thought they were dealing with someone who stole a car.

“On the ground… on the ground… down on the ground… down on the ground…turn around,” the officers can be heard yelling as they knee Crosby to bring him to the ground and then punch him.

“I’m cooperating…sir, you’re on video… that’s an FYI,” Crosby can be heard telling the officers. He had moved to the front of his car to put himself within view of his own camera.

So…about that whole just don’t break the law and follow the orders Police Heroes give you and everything will be just fine theory…

Police Dash Camera Footage

Local News Coverage

IL Police Assault Innocent, Cooperative Man After Racist Woman Reports He Stole His Own Car is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights