Police attack a student who "stole" his own car and decides to file a complaint for $ 1.25 million

EVANSTON, Ill. – A Chicago suburb has agreed to pay a former Ph.D. student $ 1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleged by police officers

Evanston City Director Wally Bobkiewicz has confirmed that he has not paid a bribe. an agreement was reached with Lawrence Crosby, 25, PhD student at Northwestern University in The incident occurred in 2015.

Bobkiewicz refused to provide the settlement amount pending the final approval of City Council next week. Crosby's lawyer, Timothy Touhy, told the Chicago Tribune that the amount was $ 1.25 million.

The incident was one of many high-profile cases in the Chicago area in recent years, involving violent, sometimes deadly, clashes between police and black men. Last week, a judge sentenced a former Chicago police officer to nearly seven years in prison for the fatal murder of Laquan McDonald, who died on a video of a dashcam.

Touhy said Crosby was trying to repair the tracks of his car. when a woman called the police to report a black man trying to steal a car

When he drove away, the woman followed Crosby in his car while he was traveling from his apartment at the Northwestern Science Building, giving the police his location.

Crosby came out of the car with hands raised after being stopped by police, but was attacked after failing. to immediately obey orders to get down to earth. The police later determined that the car belonged to Crosby, but still accused him of disobeying the police and resisting arrest.

At the time of Crosby's arrest, a spokesman for the Evanston Police Department said the use of force by the police was justified because the police reacted thought was a robbery car. The spokesman said the police were doing knee strikes and hand-to-hand attacks.

A judge later dismissed the charges, said Touhy.

The prosecution has asked the City of Evanston and the arrested police to pay at least $ 50,000 as compensation and compensation. punitive damages and other remedies.

"He hopes that as a result of this case, we will all start a discussion about the implicit biases, start recognizing them and start discussing them between you and your friends," said Steven Yonover, who represented Crosby in the case.