After a January 2013 altercation, Rickey Williams, then 22, filed a complaint with the Independent Police Review Authority alleging Evans shoved a gun down Williams’ throat, held a Taser to his groin and threatened to kill him.
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A Cook County judge on Monday aquitted Chicago Police Commander Glenn Evans on charges he stuck a gun down a person’s throat.
Emanuel also has shaken up the police department with the firing of Superintendent Garry McCarthy earlier this month. In a statement later released to Chicago Police officer and writer Martin Preib, Evans says the charges were “part of a pattern of retaliation” going back 28 years to the Madison Hobley arson murder investigation.
“This is just one case”.
The defense’s version of events contradicted Williams’ testimony.
Evans’ attorneys called the ruling a vindication of Evans and excoriated IPRA’s investigation of their client.
Evans is a decorated officer and was one of former Supt.
The recent Evans-Williams case attracted public and media attention, as reports of police brutality in the U.S. have risen dramatically recently and numerous high-profile cases have prompted protest marches around the country.
Cook County Judge Diane Cannon delivered a judgment in favor of Cmdr.
“My ruling does not pertain to misconduct”, the judge said. Both Evans and Williams are black.
Williams appeared “eager to change his testimony at anyone’s request to accommodate the evidence”, Cannon concluded. Evans chose not to testify at his bench trial last week. Glenn Evans not guilty of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and official misconduct stemming from the 2013 incident involving Rickey Williams. He said Evans shoved his gun so far down his throat that he gagged and later spat blood.
Williams’ lawyer, Stephan Blandin says the legal fight isn’t over, “Ricky will get his day in court in a federal civil rights lawsuit that is pending and there will be a jury trial”.
“If there was no video, the police would have denied doing any of this”, Fox said. His attorney questioned the victim’s credibility and DNA evidence in the case, and said there’s no evidence Evans had a stun gun.
The accuser, captured in a foot chase after Evans said he saw him holding a gun, was not exactly a strong witness. It is known for moving slowly and rarely finding police officers at fault. Cannon pointed to inconsistencies in Williams’ testimony in making her decision. According to David Protess, president of the Chicago Innocence Project, Cannon “wrongfully jailed a Serbian immigrant who was freed when high-ranking judges intervened; berated and locked-up a young mother of three for using a cellphone from a washroom to check on her disabled child; harshly sentenced exonerated death row inmate Anthony Porter to a year in prison for shoplifting four sticks of deodorant; and, repeatedly delayed a hearing for an innocent man until he died alone in his prison cell”. Porter, in ending the bench trial, said Servin acted “beyond reckless”, so he could not be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. His hair was in place, she said.
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“They were inept, they were at times corrupt (and) they didn’t want to see the things that made Glenn Evans… innocent, ‘ said Laura Morask”. “And as I have proven by my actions throughout the course of my administration, the State’s Attorney’s Office will never hesitate to bring criminal charges against police officers when they are supported by the facts, the evidence and the law”.
