Jaylan Butler, a black student, and member of the swim team at Eastern Illinois University was heading back with his team from an out of state trip when police officers handcuffed, put a gun to his head and threatened to blow his head off.
Butler, 20 filed a lawsuit in January in the U.S District for the Central District of Illinois for the unlawful search and seizure, false arrest and excessive force.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Sophmore swimmer was traveling on a bus with his team last February when it puled over at a rest stop so that the team could stretch their legs. Butler got off, took a selfie in front of a road sign, and was heading back towards the bus when officers exited their vehicles with guns drawn.
Officers from three departments were named in theEast Moline officer Travis Staes, Hampton officer Ethan Bush and Rock Island sheriff’s deputies Jack Asquini and Jason Pena. Six officers in total are believed to be involved in the arrest, Rachel Murphy, one of Butler’s attorneys, told NBC News.
Butler complied and did not resist arrest; still several officers took Butler to the cold, snowy ground and unleashed a series of expletives, including one officer allegedly saying, “If you keep moving, I’m going to blow your f—— head off.”
After several minutes of forcing Butler to lie down on the ground, Butler was allowed to sit up. However, officers failed to remove his handcuffs or inform him that he was free to go, even though they had already recognized that Butler was not the suspect for whom they were searching.
Officers eventually took off the handcuffs, told Butler to get his ID from the bus, and informed him that he was free to go after showing it to them.
The lawsuit also alleges that Butler was never given a reason why he was detained, and the offers at the scene didn’t document the incident.
Butler is obviously shaken up by the incident and is starting to see a therapist.
Butler had always known there was a possibility that he could be targeted by police because he is black and was taught by his father to comply with officers if that ever happened.
Mr. Butler hoped he would never have to use his father’s advice,” the lawsuit says. “His hope was shattered on February 24, 2019.”
Butler is seeking unspecified damages.
Flip the page for news video of this story.