Trouble In Joliet Public Library's Children's Section As Man Gets Physical When Told To Leave: Police

JOLIET, IL — A 29-year-old man from Tinley Park now finds himself in the Will County Jail after last week's violence confrontation with the Joliet Police Department as officers tried to escort him out of the children's section of the Joliet Public Library's downtown branch, arrest reports show.

According to police spokesman Dwayne English, at 3:38 p.m. Feb. 18, officers responded to the Joliet Public Library branch at 150 N. Ottawa St. for a man refusing to leave. Upon arrival, English said an officer made contact with Shaquille Eubanks, who was seated in the children’s section, and advised him that he was not permitted to remain in that area without a child present.

English noted that Eubanks refused to comply with the officer’s lawful orders to leave. When officers tried to escort him out of the building, Eubanks physically resisted and grabbed the officer’s arms, the arrest report indicated.

He was then placed into custody following a brief struggle. This was the second call for service involving Eubanks at the library the same day for similar behavior after he had previously been instructed to leave the area, according to English.

Eubanks was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer, criminal trespass to state supported land, and two counts of resisting/obstructing a peace officer. He was transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.

Back in November, community activist Trista Graves Brown attended a Joliet City Council meeting, revealing that a man had tried to abduct her as she was preparing to teach one of her Saturday morning classes at the library.

According to the Joliet Police Department, police officers went to the downtown library at 9:19 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, after library security contacted an officer indicating that a man reportedly had made inappropriate comments to a library patron, and that security wanted the man removed from the premises.

Officers found the man in the library, and he was identified as 63-year-old Michael Lance. Lance was told by the officers that he was no longer welcome at the library, and the incident was settled at the scene, according to the police report.

While the officers were leaving the library, they learned that Lance had allegedly approached Brown and made a lewd comment that was sexual in nature to her as she walked on Clinton Street near the library, Joliet police told Patch.