Evanston officially settles lawsuit for $1.25 million with man arrested for allegedly stealing his own car

Pioneer Press Newspapers (Chicago, IL)

Jan. 29--Evanston aldermen on Monday agreed to pay a former Northwestern University doctoral student $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed against the city and four police officers after he was arrested for allegedly stealing his own car.

The settlement between the city and Lawrence Crosby was passed as part of the consent agenda with an 8-0 vote. Ald. Cicely Fleming, 9th, was absent.

The settlement does not admit liability on the part of the city or the officers, according to the agreement. The money will be paid from Evanston's insurance fund for "settlement costs -- liability," according to a staff report from City Attorney Michelle Masoncup.

But that didn't stop one alderman, the city clerk and members of the public from placing responsibility on the city's shoulders.

"Excuses aren't acceptable," said Ald. Don Wilson, 4th Ward. "Part of our job is to do everything we can to tear down the barriers we put up" for residents of color.

"We're accountable to the future," Wilson said.

Evanston City Clerk Devon Reid said he was speaking as a private citizen when he said that "we must, as individuals and as this institution, check racial bias and afford our neighbors the benefit of the doubt."

Resident Misty Witenberg implored the council to take responsibility on the city's behalf, even if the settlement agreement did not.

"I want to encourage you to insist that we admit liability. We are in this mess because we refused to take blame in the start. Most of the settlement is for reputational harm," Witenberg said. "Instead of apologizing to this young man we took legal action against him."

Genevieve Bookwalter/Pioneer Press

Fifth Ward Evanston resident Misty Witenberg asked aldermen to take responsibility for the arrest of Lawrence Crosby before aldermen approved a lawsuit settlement with Crosby at their meeting on Jan. 28, 2019.

Crosby's civil lawsuit, filed Oct. 11, 2016, in Cook County Circuit Court, cited false arrest and excessive force, and asked the city of Evanston and the arresting police officers to pay at least $50,000 for "compensatory and punitive damages, fees, costs and such other relief."

The suit was filed almost exactly one year after Crosby, then 25, was pulled over, subdued and arrested by police responding to a call from a woman who said she believed he had stolen the car he was driving.

It turned out, however, that the car was Crosby's, police eventually confirmed. An engineering doctoral candidate at Northwestern University who has since earned his PhD, Crosby was driving from his apartment to the science building on campus when police arrested him, according to his attorney, Timothy Touhy.

Crosby was arrested and charged with disobeying officers and resisting arrest, according to a police report, even after officers learned the car belonged to him.

A video of the arrest was released Jan. 11, 2017. The video includes an audio recording of a 911 call from a woman who said she saw a black man wearing a black hoodie trying to steal a car.

She followed Crosby in her car as he drove, giving his location to police. Officers arrested him in the 1500 block of Ridge Avenue, according to the police report.

The woman had seen Crosby as he tried to repair loose molding on his car, Touhy said.

Crosby can be heard on the video telling police he was trying to fix something on his car, according to the video, which was released following an alderman's request.

Crosby was arrested and charged with disobeying officers and resisting arrest, according to a police report.

The video includes dashboard camera recordings from both an Evanston police car and a camera that Crosby had installed on his own dashboard.

In the videos, Crosby can be heard talking on his cell phone and telling someone that he is being followed. He says that, as a black man, apparently he cannot work on his car at night. He was subsequently pulled over by police.

The police video shows Crosby getting out of his car with both hands up, holding a cell phone in one hand. Officers approached Crosby with guns drawn. Police ordered Crosby to get down and when he did not quickly comply, a group of officers rushed him and brought him to the ground. Crosby said that officers hit and kneed him.

After learning that Crosby owned the car and was in good standing, the officers talk about their next steps.

Crosby was arrested and charged with disobeying officers and resisting police, according to the police report. A judge later threw out the charges, Touhy said.

At the time, an Evanston Police Department spokesman said the use of force by police was justified as officers were responding to what they thought was an auto theft. The spokesman said officers delivered knee strikes and open-handed strikes to major muscle groups, as trained. He said Crosby later told officers the reason he hadn't immediately complied with their instructions was that he had been trying to move to the front of his car so that any ensuing interaction would be captured on his dashboard camera.

Crosby said last week when the agreement's terms were first made public that he's working now to mend his reputation, as he finds himself often defending his actions and explaining what happened following the case's national media spotlight. He's moved out of Evanston and declined to say what his future career plans will be.

Meanwhile, Crosby said, one of his first steps in addressing implicit bias is hosting a forum on the topic this spring for students and faculty at Stanford University where he earned his undergraduate degree.

"The goal at the end of the day is to have a conversation," Crosby said.

gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com

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