Man at Center of Brutality Case Against CPD Commander Files Civil Suit

A Chicago man on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit against a high-ranking police commander, the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago in connection with an alleged police brutality case.

Cmdr. Glenn Evans, one of Supt. Garry McCarthy's closest aides, was stripped of his badge last month amid charges of aggravated battery and misconduct in connection with January 30, 2013 arrest.

The arrestee, Rickey Williams, claims Evans jammed his gun in his mouth while a Taser was held to his groin. His lawsuit alleges unreasonable and excessive force and malicious prosecution.

[[272960171, C]]
[[149771045, C]]

Williams didn't speak during a Tuesday press conference, but his attorney, Antonio Romanucci, said the commander's actions were akin to torture.

"The civil lawsuit that was filed today directly aims to stop the abuses, the misconduct, the aggressiveness, and more importantly the custom and unspoken policy that the Chicago Police Department has of not only covering up these abuses but also to prevent them from protecting their own when innocent people have their rights violated," said Romanucci.

Evans is the commander of the Harrison District on the West Side of the city, but was working in a south side district when the alleged incident occurred. According to details revealed last month in the prosecutor proffer, Evans claimed he saw the then 22-year-old Williams on the 500 block of East 71st Street with a gun. Evans chased Williams into a home, tackled him, and then shoved his pistol into Williams' mouth and threatened to kill him if Williams didn't say where he'd put the alleged gun. Additionally, prosecutors allege Evans held a Taser to Williams' groin.

Evans and other responding officers took Williams into custody but no gun was ever found, prosecutors said.

Williams was later charged with a misdemeanor offense of reckless conduct based upon his alleged possession of a gun, but that charge was dropped on April 24, 2013 when officers failed to appear in court to testify.

A day after his arrest, Williams filed a complaint with the Independent Police Review Authority describing the incident. IPRA on Feb. 1, 2013 ordered Evans to turn in his weapon for forensic testing.

DNA from Evans' weapon came back as a match to Williams more than two months later and IPRA recommended that Evans' police powers be stripped.

The commander's name is among a list of 662 officers with more than 10 misconduct complaints
between May 2001 and May 2006, according to records the city released last month. There were 14 complaints lodged against Evans. None resulted in disciplinary action.

NBC Chicago reported in May 2012 that Evans was among a small group of officers who have been repeatedly accused of police brutality and misconduct, resulting in millions of dollars in payouts of tax dollars to settle.

After court Thursday, Cook County Sheriff's Office deputies snuck Evans out of a locked exit which, for security reasons, is rarely opened. A spokesman for the sheriff's office said that action wasn't authorized and that the officer or officers involved would be disciplined.

Illinois Department of Corrections records show Williams was released on Aug. 1 on parole from the Pontiac Correctional Center on felony convictions for possessing marijuana and violating electronic-monitoring terms.