Cops Tackle Northwestern Grad Student in Dash Cam Video

EVANSTON, IL - A video released by the Evanston Police Department shows multiple police officers approach and take down a Northwestern University graduate student during a 2015 investigation into a possible car theft. It turns out that Lawrence Crosby, then an engineering student at the university, owned the car he was accused of stealing by a 911 caller on the night of Oct. 10. He was charged with disobedience to police and filed a lawsuit against the city after the charge was dropped, the Daily Northwestern reports.

The video shows an Evanston squad car pull Crosby over after a 911 caller stated that “somebody is trying to break into a car.” The caller followed Crosby and notified police of his location.

When stopped, Crosby exits the vehicle with his hands in the air and holding an object, which turned out to be his cell phone. Multiple police officers are shown tackling Crosby to the ground and ordering him to “stop resisting.”

Crosby immediately identified the specifics of when and where he bought the vehicle, his name and that he was an engineering student at the school.

The caller first told police she was on Sherman Avenue near Seward Street when she saw someone with “a bar in his hand” and that he was “trying to jimmy it open.”

“I don’t mean to be racial profiling,” the caller said after indicating to police the suspect was African-American.

Dennis Leaks, a sergeant with the EPD, introduced the video that was shared on the city of Evanston’s YouTube channel. He defended the actions of the officers involved.

“You see him (Crosby) actively resisting arrest as officers take him to the ground,” Leaks said. “The use of force incident was reviewed by our professional standards and chief of police and it was determined the use of force in this incident is compliant with out procedures.”

He did say the department has made a determination that they “will no longer have a subject prone to these types of stops.”

Four of the police officers involved in the incident are named in Crosby’s ongoing lawsuit, according to an Evanston Now report.

Photo via YouTube screenshot