Unarmed black PhD student arrested for 'stealing' his own car
With his hands in the air, a black PhD student was spear tackled to the ground and arrested by gun-wielding US police officers for attempting to "steal" his own car.
In dashcam footage of incident, which occurred in Evanston, Illinois law-abiding citizen Lawrence Crosby can be heard calmly explaning that he was not a car thief.
However, his protestations fell on deaf ears.
“This is my vehicle sir,” he can be heard explaining to police officers as they pinned him to the ground.
“I have evidence... I purchased this vehicle January 23, 2015, from Libertyville Chevrolet."
Far from committing grand theft auto, Mr Crosby was on his way to Northwestern University where he was studying for his doctoral degree in civil engineering on the night he was arrested in October 2015.
The video released by the Evanston Police Department commences with a 911 call made by a bystander who saw Mr Crosby attempting to fix a loose object on the roof of his luxury car, which she interpreted as an attempted break-in.
“Somebody’s going to break into a car... I think the person just got into the car,” she told the dispatcher.
“He had a bar in his hand, and it looked like he was jimmying the door open.”
The four-minute video that was released this week combines the 911 call, police dashcam footage and audio from the dashcam of Mr Crosby’s Chevrolet, where he can be heard expressing his concerns to a friend on the phone.
In a bitter twist of irony, the pursuing police cars left him so intimidated he decided to make his way to the police station, fearing something was not right.
"You know how it is with black people, they think we're always trying to do something wrong,” he told his friend moments before he was brutally arrested.
"I think they're trying to play some games. I'm about to go to the police station now."
Seconds later, the sirens came on and Mr Crosby can be seen pulling his car over before calmly exiting the drivers side with his hands in the air.
With guns drawn, five officers sprinted towards their alleged car-thief and tackled him to the ground telling him “stop resisting, stop resisting”, to which he frantically replied “I’m cooperating, I’m cooperating”.
Even after discovering the vehicle belonged to Mr Crosby, officers proceeded with their arrest.
The charges were promptly thrown out by a judge, however the Evanston Police Department defended their actions and opted not to charge or even discipline the officers.
"You will see some empty handed strikes to the heavy muscle region, which is the upper thigh region of the subject in an attempt to gain control,” Evanston Police Department Segreant Dennis Leaks said in justification of the officers' actions.
"It was determined that the force used in this incident was in compliance with our procedures as it pertains to this type of situation."
A civil suit against the officers is currently before the courts.
