An Evanston, Ill., man is filing a police-misconduct complaint after he says he was injured while being detained by police officers who were looking for a robbery suspect last week.
According to the Chicago Tribune, 60-year-old Gregory Hall was walking down Main Street the afternoon of Jan. 22 after spending some time in the south branch of the Evanston Public Library, when he was surrounded by cops.
Hall, a licensed naprapath (a holistic medicine practitioner), told the Tribune that the officers moved in on him with guns drawn before forcefully handcuffing him and bringing him to his knees.
“I screamed out in pain,” Hall recalled. “They told me I had just held up a secondhand store and had a gun and $300 on me.”
Of course, Hall did not have a weapon on him; nor did he have the money they expected the robber to have.
Evanston Police Cmdr. Ryan Glew confirmed that Hall was “detained” in a case of mistaken identity, saying that he matched the description of the robber. However, an eyewitness in the case soon told police that they had the wrong person.
Glew said that on that particular day, there were two robberies very close together, including one near a thrift store that was near the library. The suspect in the robberies was described as a black man, 50 to 60 years old or older, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a thin build and facial hair.
Glew said that Hall was handcuffed by officers because of his “initial behavior and reluctance to be cooperative.”
Hall, for his part, said that he did not have the time to be uncooperative because, he insists, officers already had their guns drawn and immediately handcuffed him. He also pointed out that he is not 5 feet 8 inches tall but, rather, 6 feet 2 inches.
Hall said that as a result of the encounter, his wrists were hurt, rendering him unable to work with his hands, which is central to his job.
Hall has filed a complaint with the Evanston Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, which investigates allegations of misconduct.