Judge finds CPD Cmdr. Glenn Evans innocent on all counts

A judge on Monday acquitted a Chicago police commander accused of shoving his gun down a suspect’s throat, outlining what she said were flaws in the state’s case and stressing that it shouldn’t be conflated… The judge concluded that Evans’ accuser was not believable and the evidence wasn’t persuasive.

Chicago’s embattled mayor Rahm Emanuel has fired the police chief and pledged the city’s “complete co-operation” with the federal probe.

That same day, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez released dashcam footage of a Chicago Police officer fatally shooting Ronald Johnson in October 2014, a week before Laquan was killed.

Evans was not suspended from duty following his charges, and it remains unclear if will be allowed to continue working as a police officer following the judgment.

Evans’ lawyers called the IPRA investigation “dishonest” and “inept”, noting that one of the investigators assigned to the case had been disciplined by Evans when she worked under him as a civilian employee. Now, the Independent Police Review Authority will resume its administrative investigation of the incident involving Evans and Rickey Williams three years ago.

The prosecution’s strongest evidence – the recovery of Williams’ DNA on Evans’ service weapon – was belittled by Cannon as “of fleeting relevance or significance”.

Evans also had been accused of holding a Taser to Williams’ groin during his arrest for reckless conduct.

Scott Ando, who was forced to resign last week as head of IPRA amid fallout from the McDonald investigation, testified that he had ordered evidence technicians to test Evans’ gun “inside and out” for DNA, but only the exterior was tested. Garry McCarthy and residents of crime tired neighborhoods said Evans helped clean up a number of areas under his command, while others say he symbolized the department’s failure to control its officers.

Commander Glenn Evans was found not guilty of aggravated battery and official misconduct on Monday morning.

The police commander then allegedly stuck his gun inside Williams’ mouth and pressed a Taser against the man’s groin.

During an earlier argument by another prosecutor, Cannon seemed incredulous at how Evans could have possibly wiped the gun clean yet Williams’ DNA was still found on the weapon.

African-American police commander Evans, working in the Chicago police force for 29 years, could have been imprisoned for up to 5 years. Wiping the gun would remove Evans’ touch DNA but left behind Williams’ harder-to-remove DNA from saliva in the weapon’s nooks and crannies, she said.

The judge also interrupted Freeman’s argument to tell her to stop claiming that police never bring charges for gun offenses if no weapon was recovered, saying it wasn’t true and she didn’t want to give the public a false impression of the law. “In what world is putting a gun barrel down someone’s throat doing police (work)?”

Evans is a decorated officer and was one of former Supt.

Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Williams was unable to correctly identify any of the officers involved, though the picture of Evans used by investigators was 10 years old.

Morask asked Jones to explain a delay in showing Williams the photo arrays of Evans and other officers at the scene.