Police Commander Acquitted In Disturbing Brutality Case

By Mae Rice in News on Dec 14, 2015 6:13PM

Chicago police commander Glenn Evans, charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct for, among other things, allegedly shoving his gun into an unarmed man’s mouth, was acquitted on charges by a Cook County judge on Monday.

When she delivered her verdict, Judge Diane Cannon cited inconsistencies in the alleged victim's testimony. Ricky Williams’ story, she said, changed in the leadup to the trial, and even while he was on the witness stand, according to the Sun-Times.

Williams alleged that Evans chased him into an abandoned house, shoved a gun in his mouth, held a Taser to his groin, demanding to know where his gun was. Evans thought Williams was armed, but Williams gun was never found.

The defense team also claimed that, when Evans encountered Williams, he was trying to draw out information on an ongoing murder investigation.

However, Evans’ attorney, Laura Morask, cast doubt on Williams’ story—in which right-handed Evans shoved a gun in Williams’ mouth with his left hand—and the IPRA investigators who supported it, the Sun-Times notes:

[IPRA officials’] testimony was “inept, corrupt, and at times, comically laughable,” the defense attorney said, comparing their statements to the sometimes inconsistent accounts of Williams, 25.

Williams “defied belief” when he said that Evans attacked him and another officer punched him and smashed his face into the kitchen floor in a decrepit, abandoned house at 7105 S. Eberhart Ave., Morask said.

He didn’t have a scratch. His hair was in place, she said.

“He tried to outthink and outsmart everybody. He embellished, he embroidered and he lied like the entire IPRA investigation from start to finish,” Morask said.

Williams and his attorney, Antonio Romanucci, will now make a civil case against the city.