Evanston police arrest doctoral candidate for “stealing” car that was his own

This week, Evanston Police in Illinois released dashcam video from 2015 that shows the arrest of a man who was suspected of stealing a car that turned out to be his own.

Evanston police incident with doctoral candidate

On October 10, 2015, Lawrence Crosby was working on his car around 7:00 PM when a woman passing by saw what she thought was Black man breaking into a vehicle and stealing it. She called 9-1-1 and then followed the vehicle, relaying information to the dispatcher about the location.

In essence, the police was called on Lawrence because a woman couldn’t mind her business.

“Hi, somebody’s trying to break into a car,” the woman told the dispatcher. ”I think the person just got into the car.”

Driving from apartment to campus

Crosby is an engineering doctoral candidate at the prestigious Northwestern University. He was driving from his apartment to campus when he was stopped.

Dashcam video

Crosby had his own dashcam video recording in his car, and before the stop, he can be heard talking to someone saying he thought he was being followed. He was reportedly headed to the police station because of those suspicions, when police pulled him over in a church parking lot.

The dashcam video shows him exit out the vehicle with hands up and a cellphone in his hand. He then is immediately taken down by officers who thought they were dealing with someone who stole a car.

“On the ground… on the ground… down on the ground… down on the ground…turn around,” the officers can be heard yelling as they knee Crosby to bring him to the ground and then punch him.

“I’m cooperating…sir, you’re on video… that’s an FYI,” Crosby can be heard telling the officers. He had moved to the front of his car to put himself within view of his own camera.

Thoughts on the video

Evanston Alderman Brian Miller, who is running for Mayor, said he was “infuriated” at what the video showed, particularly in light of the fact that there have been five incidents in the last two years where he says police have not de-escalated minor incidents.

He pushed for the release of the video and says this case needs to be a wake up call for the Evanston Police Department.

“I understand being a police officer is a tough job, but we need them to exercise judgment in their day to day operations. And in this situation, within ten seconds of Mr. Crosby getting out of his car with his hands in the air, he was tackled, he was kneed while he was standing up, then he was punched repeatedly by multiple officers, for allegedly stealing his own car. Our police officers need to be better than that,” Alderman Miller said.

“And in this situation, within 10 seconds of Mr. Crosby getting out of his car with his hands in the air, he was tackled, he was kneed while he was standing up, then he was punched repeatedly by multiple officers, for allegedly stealing his own car. Our police officers need to be better than that,” Miller added.

Crosby filed a civil rights lawsuit against the EPD in 2016, and that case is now pending, Fox 32 reports.