Urbana Police Push Propaganda Piece on Arrest & Beating of Innocent Woman

Urbana Police Officials didn’t waste any time attempting to save face and deflect blame after a disturbing police brutality video went viral on April 10^th 2020. The video quickly made its rounds on social media, garnering widespread criticism for the Urbana Police Department from local citizens.

Just 18 hours later, Urbana Police Lieutenant David Smysor tried to turn the tables by posting a two-page propaganda piece on the Facebook page of the Urbana Police Department. Smysor’s quick draw at the keyboard, however, may only serve to embarrass the Urbana Police Department even further, as discerning citizens were not impressed. The full text of Smysor’s post can be seen at the end of this article, or by clicking on the image here:

By any account, the arrestee, Aleyah Lewis, appears to have done nothing worthy of blame beyond perhaps being disagreeable after having been involved in a domestic dispute. Not only did UPD officers tackle, beat, and arrest Lewis, they attempted to cover-up their misconduct by jailing her and piling on bogus criminal charges. Now, Lt. Smysor has taken things a step further by making another attempt at publicly damaging Lewis’s reputation.

Though multiple accounts argue that Lewis was likely only a victim in the incident leading up to her arrest, the propaganda piece gives her full name, age, and sex. On the contrary, Smysor very carefully avoids mentioning any names or personal details about the Urbana Police Officers involved. Apparently, Smysor believes that Urbana Police Officers should be allowed to operate with complete anonymity when they’re beating up women

The most mind-boggling part of Smysor’s propaganda piece is his description of the moment of the arrest itself. As can be seen in the video (at about 00:30), Lewis is talking to an officer from a distance of about 30ft, the officer appears to shout to Lewis, “If you don’t walk away, you’re going to go to jail.” Lewis starts to walk away, but then Sergeant Michael P. Cervantes starts running towards her. Smysor writes:

“Lewis began arguing with officers and started walking away from them. This necessitated a patrol sergeant to approach Lewis. The sergeant reached Lewis, who had stopped, and he began to attempt to physically restrain her.”

CU-Underground has not been able to find any law-enforcement precedent in Illinois that would necessitate a Sergeant to grab and tackle an unarmed and innocent woman for “arguing”. It isn’t clear what law or policy Smysor thinks he is citing.

Then Smysor writes, “An officer struck Lewis one time in the head in an attempt to distract her in order for officers to gain control of her arms while they were trying to handcuff her.” The reader may at first presume that Smysor wrote this as a preamble to invalidating such a tactic as brutish and violent. After all, the ~100lb Lewis was already being crushed by the weight of much larger men, one of whom is clearly obese. To the reader’s surprise, Smysor completes the thought simply by saying, “However, this did not stop Lewis from continuing to resist officer’s efforts to arrest her.” It seems as though Smysor may have simply been stating that the officers didn’t punch Lewis hard enough.

Smysor goes on to argue that Lewis “appeared to be under the influence of something”, which is one of the oldest and most tired lines of corrupt law enforcement. Smysor writes that Lewis said she had taken Xanax, but this is a legal prescription drug. What makes this claim especially insidious is that if Lewis did mention taking a drug, she almost certainly did so during the intake process at the Champaign County Jail. During the intake, medical questions are asked to determine if the inmate may need any special medical attention. It seems likely that the Urbana Police Department are actually using the jail medical questionnaire as a tool to inflict reputation damage against those whom they arrest.

Smysor makes repeated attempts to allude that Lewis was dangerous because the other person involved in the domestic dispute had a gun, but the implications just don’t make sense. There was no reason to think that Lewis was armed and her clothing seemed to demonstrate quite well that she could not have been carrying any weapon.

Some indisputable facts that Smysor fails to mention: One of the Patrol Sergeants who physically battered Lewis, James Cory Koker, has been named in multiple police misconduct complaints within the past year. The other Patrol Sergeant, who initially tackled Lewis to the ground, was Michael P. Cervantes. Cervantes is currently being sued in federal court for withholding evidence, coercing a witness, falsifying police reports, and destroying or altering witness statements.

UPDATE: The issue of Lewis’s arrest and the UPD propaganda piece were discussed by numerous citizens during public input at the April 16th and April 20th Urbana City Council Meetings. An article covering that public input can be found here: Urbana City Council Members Remain Silent After Citizens Speak Up Against Police Assaulting Unarmed Woman

The complete text of Smysor’s propaganda piece posted here:

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Incident Location: 1003 Colorado, Urbana
Date/Time of Press Release: April 11, 2020, 3 pm.
Date/Time of Incident: April 10, 2020, 4:34 pm.

AGGRAVATED DISCHARGE OF A FIREARM – 1003 E. COLORADO _________________________________________________
On Friday, April 10, 2020, at 4:34 pm, Urbana patrol officers were dispatched to the area of 1102 E. Colorado Ave. for a report of a shooting. Initial dispatches indicated that a black male was armed with a handgun, he had possibly shot himself, and a black female was potentially with him.

Officers arrived and located multiple people in the area, including more than one person who matched the description of the potential armed subject. Officers initially detained a 14-year-old male and 16-year-old female who matched the description of the subjects involved, but officers were able to determine that they were not involved in this incident and they were subsequently released.

At the same time some officers were dealing with the uninvolved juveniles, other patrol officers also located Kamarion Busby, a 19 year old Champaign man, and Aleyah Lewis, a 21 year old Urbana female, in the street near the intersection of S. Cottage Grove and Glenwood Oaks Ct. Officers stopped Busby and Lewis and began to give them orders, specifically to get on the ground. Officers were eventually able to get Busby to follow commands, and Busby walked back to them as they were maintaining cover behind their police vehicles.

While Busby was being secured behind the police vehicles by officers, Lewis began arguing with officers and started walking away from them. This necessitated a patrol sergeant to approach Lewis. The sergeant reached Lewis, who had stopped, and he began to attempt to physically restrain her. Lewis started fighting with the sergeant and she was subsequently taken to the ground.

Lewis continued to fight with the sergeant despite his orders to stop resisting. During the struggle, the patrol sergeant suffered a broken thumb. It was later determined that the sergeant might require surgery to repair the broken thumb.

Lewis continued thrashing her arms about and tucking her arms under her body while she was laying on her stomach. It is important to note that officers did not know whether Lewis was armed at that time. Another officer and another sergeant assisted in securing Lewis in handcuffs. An officer struck Lewis one time in the head in an attempt to distract her in order for officers to gain control of her arms while they were trying to handcuff her. However, this did not stop Lewis from continuing to resist officer’s efforts to arrest her.

Even after Lewis was handcuffed, she continued to resist officer’s efforts to place her in a patrol vehicle. Lewis spat in the face of another patrol officer and also kicked that officer in the chest when she was being placed in a patrol vehicle.

When officers searched Busby, they found a loaded handgun in his pants. Based on the condition of the handgun, it was apparent that it had recently been fired. Officers located
multiple witnesses on scene and through further investigation they were able to determine the following.

Busby and Lewis are in a romantic relationship and they had gotten into an argument at Lewis’ apartment. This argument spilled out onto the front lawn at 1003 Colorado, where a handgun was fired. Independent witnesses observed Busby with the gun in his hand. Based on Busby’s erratic movements at that time, witnesses thought that Busby might have shot himself. It was later determined that Busby had not shot himself, however the round that was fired from the gun travelled northeast across the street and through the window of an occupied apartment. The resident of that apartment happened to be in a different room at the time of the shooting, so no one was injured.

Busby and Lewis both appeared to be under the influence of something when officers were dealing with them. When officers later attempted to speak with Lewis about what happened, she claimed that she could not remember what happened and she had taken a “Xanax edible” earlier in the day.

Busby and Lewis were both secured at the Champaign County Satellite Jail. Lewis was preliminarily charged with aggravated battery and resisting/obstructing an officer. Busby was preliminarily charged with unlawful use of weapons, aggravated discharge of a firearm, and having no valid FOID card. Busby had a bond set at $150,000. Lewis had a bond set at $20,000.

The investigation of this incident is ongoing. Anyone with further information, photographs, or video recordings is encouraged to call the Urbana Police Department at 217-384-2320. Detectives will arrange to meet with witnesses privately. Callers may remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 217-373-TIPS, submit a tip on the Champaign County Crime Stoppers website (champaigncountycrimestoppers.com), or submit a tip on the free P3 Tips app which if available in iTunes and Google Play app stores.

###END###”