Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has called for a “thorough and transparent investigation” into the events detailed in a lawsuit alleging that a black college student was wrongfully arrested and threatened by local police without justification last year.
“I’m deeply troubled by what I’ve read about how Jaylan Butler, an African-American athlete at EIU, was mistreated by law enforcement in East Moline,” Pritzker wrote in a Facebook post. “It’s unacceptable for any young person to feel unsafe and disrespected anywhere in this state — but every day, too many young people of color live through it.”
“I urge a thorough and transparent investigation of what took place,” he added.
His comments arrived a day after the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a lawsuit in federal court last week on behalf of Eastern Illinois University student Jaylan Butler.
The lawsuit stems from a series of alleged events that took place on Feb. 24, 2019, when Butler, a member of the school’s swimming team, was stopped by local police officers on the team’s way back from competing in the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships in South Dakota.
Butler’s legal team said on the way back from the championship, the swimming team, which had been traveling by bus, was pulled over at one point to a “frontage road off of Interstate 80 near a rest stop in East Moline, Illinois.”
After he and his teammates exited the bus to stretch, the lawsuit claims Butler, the sole black swimmer on the team, was met with “several law enforcement vehicles with flashing lights [that] suddenly pulled up in front of him.”
“When Mr. Butler saw the law enforcement vehicles pull up, he was surprised and confused, but knew what to do. He instantly stopped, put his hands up, dropped the cell phone that was in his hand, and dropped to his knees,” the lawsuit states.
Despite having not committed a crime, the lawsuit states Butler was approached by police officers with firearms raised.
The suit stated that the officers shouted things at the college student, who was unarmed at the time, like, “Get down!” and “Don’t f—ing move! Stay right there!”
“At least one Defendant had his knee pressed into Mr. Butler’s back, and at least one Defendant was pressing down on Mr. Butler’s neck,” the suit states. “Another Defendant was squatting down in front of Mr. Butler. He put his handgun against Mr. Butler’s forehead and said, ‘If you keep moving, I’m going to blow your f—ing head off.’ ”
Minutes after they allegedly placed Butler in handcuffs and had him lie face down on the ground, police officers realized he was not the suspect they were looking for, according to the lawsuit. However, the suit states that the officers did not immediately let him go after and told him instead he was being arrested for resisting arrest.
“After several more minutes of sitting on the ground handcuffed, Defendants picked up Mr. Butler and forced him over to a squad car. Defendants patted him down, searched inside of his coat pockets, and placed him in the back of a squad car,” the suit states. “Defendants left Mr. Butler in the squad car for several minutes. Thereafter, Defendants finally removed Mr. Butler’s handcuffs and asked him to retrieve his identification card from the bus. Mr. Butler complied and was released from police custody.”
The lawsuit has been met with pushback from the Rock Island County Sheriff’s office, where two of the officers named in the suit work, which said in a statement that the allegations against the pair “are without merit.”
Jeff Ramsey, the police chief at the East Moline Police Department, where one officer worked, told USA Today that “the lawsuit filed by Mr. Butler portrays a version of events that is inconsistent with the version we have uncovered in our initial review.”
However, he did reportedly acknowledge that he had an officer that was looking for a shooting suspect that night in the area.