Urbana City Council Members Remain Silent After Citizens Speak Up Against Police Assaulting Unarmed Woman

Sixty-six citizens attended the April 20^th, 2020 Urbana City Council Meeting that was held electronically via Zoom. Attendance was unusually high as citizens voiced their concerns and outrage at the brutal beating of an unarmed woman by Urbana Police Officers.

On April 10^th, 2020, a video (article here) of Urbana Police Officers physically assaulting 21-year old Aleyah Lewis, surfaced on social media. The video shows Urbana Police Officers armed with assault rifles pinning down, punching, and kneeing Lewis.

During the public participation session, 28 members of the public spoke to council either via email or Zoom. Citizens described the actions of the police officers as very disturbing, deeply harmful, using a disproportionate amount of force, out of line, and inexcusable. Despite the heartfelt words of the citizens, not a single council member commented or responded to the issues brought up.

Citizens were outraged that Lewis, likely a victim of domestic violence in which a gun had been fired, was then brutalized by the police after an already traumatic incident. During the incident, Lewis, is seen upset, yelling from a distance in response to her partner’s arrest, but not physically threatening nor interfering with the officers’ duties.

“If you were to just watch it (the video) she was clearly trying to speak to somebody and it would not have been difficult for them (the police) to speak to her in a calm way and most likely be able to have gotten a different outcome of that situation,” says an Urbana resident who regularly interacts with people in crisis.

Says another resident, “In all of this, Ms. Lewis appeared to be the object of violence, rather than the initiator. I didn’t see any evidence that she interfered with officers’ activities or committed any illegal actions, unless resisting their (the police) attack was illegal.”

One of the main issues brought up was how Urbana Police failed to de-escalate the situation but instead decide to take a defensive position and physically tackle Lewis, who was unarmed, to the ground, and then proceed to beat her.

“Why did an officer aggressively go after a woman who was upset and standing at a distance, rather than employing de-escalation techniques and negotiation?”

Citizen addressing Urbana City Council

“What caused the first contact officer to bring her down in the first place?” asks another citizen.

Other citizens questioned why police officers in Urbana are not trained to de-escalate situations and brought up how quickly they resorted to using force.  

“It seems to me that those officers lost their temper, assaulted a woman, and then further abused their authority by arresting and jailing her. And it seems to me the city has condoned this behavior.”

“In the video, I see an uncontrolled police response to persistent but unarmed provocation. That’s what I see, but was the response uncontrolled? Or is that what you get when you mouth off and distract officers from their primary focus?”

“The officer that engaged her initially, that was an ego thing. You know, it’s like she was upset, running her mouth … I guess he was annoyed with her, I don’t know how you explain it away, you can’t explain it away.”

“You watched the video. A woman who’s not in arrest, not being detained, approaches an officer who then grabs her by the arm. He puts hands on her before she does a damn thing. He doesn’t get to decide when he gets to grab any damn person on the street.”

In a statement by Carol Spindle, on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Champaign County Chapter, “De-escalation is especially critical during the Covid-19 pandemic. Each interaction police officers have with community carries a risk of infection both for the officer and community member.”

Spindle also brought up concerns that Lewis was placed in confinement with individuals exhibiting symptoms of covid-19, and that Tasers were used on Lewis.

Other citizens bought up issues of racism and how this incident is an example of active racism being perpetuated by the City of Urbana.

“I’ve talked to you many times before. I’ve suggested that the way police act is racist, and now we have proof. We know this would not have happened if she wasn’t black,” says a resident. He’s disappointed that the reaction of Mayor, and the Chief of Police, seems to further racism by saying that it is ok to beat people up like that and put them in jail, which is not the way white residents are treated.

Soon after the video of the incident was shared on social media, Urbana Police Department released a press statement that attempted to sway public opinion and deflect blame (article here). However, citizens pointed out how the police were quick to justify their actions by downplaying their undue use of force, instead focusing on the victim’s behavior and attempting to discredit Lewis by making it seem as though she was perpetrating violence. Outraged citizens urged City Council to amend the press release.

“The press release statement seemed to be a hasty attempt at swaying public opinion before people could see the video for themselves.”

Citizen addressing Urbana City Council

“I felt the statement went to great lengths to portray the woman involved as an unacceptable [sic] target of police violence and to convince viewers of the video that the woman was not deserving of our empathy or compassion. This type of messaging is in fact of further harm to the victim and should never be the type of messaging coming from our city representatives,” says another.

According to Urbana Police Lieutenant David G. Smysor in the press release, “An officer struck Lewis one time in the head in an attempt to distract her…”. Citizens were outraged by this, asking, “Why did the city leadership allow a press release to go out that says the officer struck her [Lewis] in the head to distract her? Framing this action as a reasonable response or solution is dishonest.”

“The explanation of the punch in the head as a distraction device seems strange. Is that a standard tactic of the department, punch people to distract them, distract from what?” asks Professor of Political Science, Belden Fields, who studies injustices in the criminal justice system.

“The implication in the press release that it would somehow be okay to hit someone in the head to distract them is appalling,” says another Urbana resident.

In addition to the Urbana Police Department’s press release, Lewis was further subjected to attempts to shame and discredit her in a news report by Mary Schenk in the News-Gazette.

“Ask Mary Schenk to update her misleading [News-Gazette] article,” requests a citizen.

Citizens were also very concerned by the use of assault rifles by the Urbana Police Department, especially on an unarmed civilian.

A former member of the US Navy with honorable discharge described the alarming situation to council members, “It’s unconscionable to me that when other officers were present, the officers that were armed with assault rifles, were the ones who engaged the person they were attempting to detain or arrest. At one point in time in the video, one of the officers is sitting on the woman’s back with the muzzle of his rifle against the woman’s back. There is no reason… That exposes the officer to greater risk, that exposes everyone in the public to greater risk to have an officer with an assault weapon engaging in hand to hand essentially restraint with a victim. There’s no reason for that when other officers are present who are not equipped with weapons of that level of danger to a potential person being arrested as well as the officers.”

He adds, “There’s no reason that someone equipped with an assault weapon should be trying to put handcuffs on somebody else, so that they no longer have full control of that weapon. That makes the situation so much more dangerous for everyone involved.”

He also called for a review of policies related to the engagement of police officers with civilians when they are armed with assault weapons and stressed that if there are no current guidelines,  guidance should be put in place asap.

Another resident spoke of the fear she felt when she saw Urbana Police with assault rifles walking around her backyard. “I was terrified. I looked out and numerous officers were taking rifles out of the trunk of a police car two blocks from a school. The job of police should be community safety. These weapons are not safe.”

Others called for demilitarization of Urbana Police, saying “Our police force should not be at war with the residents of Urbana” and “We are not at war, there’s no reason for them to have assault rifles.”

Everyone who spoke called for a transparent, fair and full investigation of the incident and officers involved. Citizens want all questions answered with complete public disclosure, identities and badge numbers of the officers involved to be released, and for all video footage from body worn cameras to be made public.

Among the comments read before council:

“The city employees in question, who brutalized a community member on camera in broad daylight, while wielding assault weapons, were police officers on duty. The names and badge numbers should be publicly available information, but I don’t know of that information being released.”

“In a world where justice prevails, the officers involved would be named and shamed publically, removed from duty immediately, and charged with felony assault and battery.”

There were calls for the officers involved to be immediately put on administrative leave, some called for charges against the officers, and some thought that the officers who brutalized Lewis should be fired.

Says a citizen, “In the afternoon of Friday 4/10, on a residential street in a neighborhood less than a mile from my house, a 21-year old woman was assaulted by three armed men … Those three armed assailants are still walking around free, presumably still a danger to our community … Even more disturbing, these three assailants are employees of the city of Urbana. Our tax dollars pay their salary … As far as I know, these violent men still work for the city and face no penalty whatsoever … The world is upside down here. How can this be?”

There were also requests for the police to be investigated by a third party who does not work for them as well as for the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) to investigate. Citizens urged the CPRB to meet during their next meeting (7/22/2020) to investigate the incident. Concerns were voiced that the CPRB needs more power to investigate and respond, especially during its creation, some provisions that would have given it some teeth were eliminated.

“Where is the citizen review board? We need to know citizens will be kept safe from harm and we need to have oversight so that will be the case,” says one resident.

“The civilian review board needs to be refashioned to be a meaningful board that allows any witness to submit a complaint, have subpoena power and pass disciplinary actions,” adds another resident.

Many citizens also urged the city to do whatever is necessary to support Lewis and her family right now. Those who spoke unanimously agreed that the charges against Lewis (aggravated battery to a peace officer and resisting arrest) should be dropped immediately.

“In a just world those charges should never have been filed in the first place,” says a citizen.

An Urbana resident, who spent several hours with Lewis when she got out of jail on Friday described her as a wonderful, articulate, friendly, and kind person. She added that 125lb Lewis “posed absolutely no threat to those two large men with their giant assault rifles” and “urges the council and the mayor to do everything they can to get the charges dropped immediately and to apologize, which is well within their power.”

“Might does not make right, and in this case the officers were terribly wrong.”

Citizen addressing Urbana City Council

In addition to an apology, Lewis should also be compensated for physical and emotional distress caused by the assault and incarceration.

Urbana Mayor Diane W. Marlin issued a statement, assuring citizens that City Council members were meeting with police staff to learn more about the incident and that an investigation will be conducted. However, citizens are concerned that Mayor Marlin’s response seems to assume that citizens can trust the systems and practices already in place to review this incident. The city needs to acknowledge that even when procedure is followed, there can still be harm done.

“But we have seen time and again that the current systems are deeply flawed and I would ask the mayor to go further in finding ways to acknowledge the victims experience and harm,” one citizen voices his concern.

“To suggest that procedure had been followed, the Urbana police, to the Sheriff’s office, to the Circuit Court, to the Urbana City Council in this discussion this evening, is to say that the victimization and punishment is somehow normal, appropriate and deserved. It isn’t.” adds another citizen.

Yet another citizen adds, “The response from the Police Chief and Mayor warrant removal. They stood behind violent police behavior and that is not what we need in this city.”

Moving forward, James Kilgore, representing First Followers hopes that we can look at this attack of an innocent woman through the lens of racial justice and gender justice and come up with solutions as to how the police, and governing bodies deal with these issues.

“This is Urbana. A good hometown full of people who value compassion and justice and who know how to do the right thing, right? So, let’s do the right thing.”

Citizen addressing Urbana City Council

---

* Mayor Marlin announced that Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and Lt. Jason Norton will be attending the next council meeting on April 27, 2020 to provide information and address questions and concerns that were raised by the public and council members who viewed the video of the police assaulting Aleyah Lewis.