Evans is accused of threatening to kill Rickey Williams and shoving his gun down Williams’ throat in 2013.
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But on Monday, a Cook County judge acquitted Evans on all charges: two counts of aggravated battery and seven counts of official misconduct.
Still Chicagoans remained hopeful based on the recent past events in Chicago. Protesters are calling for more resignations, including those of Emanuel and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. One former commander called Evans a “loose cannon”.
Chicago’s embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel has fired the police chief and pledged the city’s “complete co-operation” with the federal probe. Evans had been relieved of his duties previous year pending the outcome of his case.
“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”.
Morask asked Jones to explain a delay in showing Williams the photo arrays of Evans and other officers at the scene.
“My ruling does not pertain to misconduct”, the judge said. 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. Williams was “eager to change his testimony at anyone’s request to accommodate the evidence”, the judge found.
Prosecutors had said Evans chased Williams into an abandoned house on the South Side in 2013 after Evans claimed he saw Williams running with a handgun.
Williams will continue to press brutality claims against Evans in a federal civil rights lawsuit, said Williams’ attorney, Stephan Blandin.
Williams testified that Evans put his service pistol so far down his throat that he gagged and later spat blood. Williams testified that he hadn’t been carrying a gun and that Evans must have mistaken it for a cellphone he had been holding.
“This is a case of a guy doing his job”, she told reporters after the verdict.
During 28 years on the force, four dozen citizen complaints have been filed against Evans.
State forensic experts found Williams’ DNA on Evans’ gun, according to court testimony.
But Cannon said that the DNA evidence only established that Evans had contact with Williams, something that was not in dispute. It is known for moving slowly and rarely finding police officers at fault.
If the trial failed to prove Evans’ guilt, it succeeded in exposing the failings of the Independent Police Review Authority, which has responsibility for investigating allegations of misconduct by Chicago cops.
When she delivered her verdict, Judge Diane Cannon cited inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s testimony. Porter, in ending the bench trial, said Servin acted “beyond reckless”, so he could not be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
“You’re telling me there was a tremendous amount of DNA there, but it was wiped?” she said. He was removed from command when Cook County prosecutors brought criminal charges against him in August 2014. Evans left the courthouse with no comment, surrounded by blocking guards.
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Evans is one of the highest ranking members of the department to ever face criminal charges and his case has received widespread attention because of his aggressive tactics condemned by some, praised by others as the city has struggled to lower its violent crime rate.
