Evanston Police clear officer of racial profiling in Greenwell incident
Photo illustration by Tanner Maxwell
November 5, 2012
The Evanston Police officer who sparked a citywide controversy after briefly handcuffing the 13-year-old son of a Northwestern professor has been cleared of racial profiling after an internal investigation.
During a burglary investigation in August, EPD officer Mark Buell briefly handcuffed Diwani Greenwell, the 13-year-old son of Medill Prof. Ava Greenwell. EPD officials said Diwani matched the description of a burglary suspect detailed as a “black male wearing blue cargo shorts.”
The Greenwell family claims the detainment hinged on a vague and widely applicable racial description and that EPD showed an excessive amount of force by using handcuffs and surrounding Diwani Greenwell with officers in front of his own home.
An EPD report to be presented to Evanston aldermen tonight classifies Greenwell's allegation of racial profiling as "unfounded." The report points out that Diwani was pursued because he matched the description and appeared to elude other officers as they approached him. The internal investigation included interviews with the Greenwell family, police officers involved in the original burglary case and civilian witnesses, as well as audio and video surveillance records.
"These are the reasons he was detained," the report reads. "There is no credible evidence to support otherwise, and certainly not to support the accusation of racial profiling."
In a letter attached to the report, EPD Chief Richard Eddington wrote that police handcuffed Diwani because they feared he might run away. They brought him to the front of the house from the back in order to more speed up the identification process, Eddington wrote.
"In this instance, the continued movement by the juvenile influenced the officers' perception of the need to utilize handcuffs to detain him," Eddington said. "It should be noted that when another juvenile was stopped during this burglary investigation, flight was not a perceived risk, consequently handcuffs were not utilized."
The report also clears Buell of other alleged misconduct, including refusing to answer Greenwell's questions and having a "condescending attitude" throughout the ordeal. According to the report, Buell told internal investigators that he tried to apologize to Diwani but was cut off when Greenwell started "bashing police and me as a white officer."
In her interviews for the EPD investigation, Greenwell recalled that five EPD officers, including one black male officer, surrounded her handcuffed son during the original burglary investigation. She said when she attempted to stand next to Diwani, he told her to step away, repeatedly telling her police actions were not informed by racial profiling.
"You're a black male; you know what racial profiling looks like," Greenwell reportedly answered.
After Diwani was exonerated, all the officers except Buell left without apologizing, Greenwell said. She recalled that she demanded that Buell apologize to her son and ordered Diwani out of the house to accept it despite the fact that he was crying and angry. However, Buell's apology "felt insincere and condescending" to Greenwell, according to the report.
"This is why black males have a very negative impression of police, because of encounters like this," Greenwell then reportedly said.
"Well, I grew up in the projects," Buell replied, according to the report.
In September, Diwani's mother filed a federal lawsuit against Buell and Evanston. Although the city was dropped as a defendant in the case earlier this week, the family's attorney said the case against Buell will continue.
Greenwell family attorney Christopher Cooper told the Chicago Tribune that the internal investigation was a "cover up by a small-time police agency that really needs to take lessons from the larger agencies on how to stop-and-frisk."
Greenwell declined to comment on the results of EPD's internal investigation Sunday. She said she wishes to observe the police department's presentation tonight before responding, but confirmed she has not withdrawn her lawsuit against EPD.
Her statement following tonight's Human Services Committee meeting will address the merits of the investigation and its impact on Diwani. Greenwell added that her friends, neighbors and supporters in the black community have yet to respond to EPD clearing Buell of misconduct because the news hasn't had time to spread.
Greenwell told The Daily after filing the lawsuit that she hopes to improve EPD procedure for interacting with young people during investigations and change police-community relations for the better. Eddington said in his letter that EPD will seek advice from Eastern Kentucky University Prof. Aaron Thompson of, an expert in race relations, to improve future police behavior.
"Policing of a free and democratic society is a most complex undertaking that can always be improved by additional training," Eddington said.
This article has been edited for clarity.
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The insanity of profiling
by DailyKenn.com
A burglary suspect was described as a young "black male wearing blue cargo shorts."
Describing the suspect as black, however, constitutes racial profiling, some say.
Cops, therefore, were clearly in the wrong when they briefly nabbed a 13-year-old black kid who matched the description.
Let's hypothecize.
According to opponents of profiling the cops should consider the color of shorts, but not the color or skin, when snagging suspects. In other words, the cops are obligated to cuff white kids as well as black kids even when they know perp was not white.
By cuffing both white and black kids police would avoid accusations of racial bias. That is, they would be forced to impose a racial bias to avoid the accusation of imposing a racial bias. They would employ profiling of whites to avoid accusations of profiling blacks.
Question. How stupid is that?
White kids would be cuffed, not because they are actually suspected of burglary, but because a racial quota is required to elude charges of profiling. To avoid accusations of racism, the cops would necessarily seek out innocent white kids to detain so they can demonstrate a racial balance on their report. White kids would be cuffed because they are white.
Answer. It's really, really stupid.
Truth is, when witnesses report white bad guys, cops go looking for white bad guys. They cuff white guys; not black guys, not Hispanic guys, and not Asian guys. They intentionally apply racial profiling because it is the reasonable things to do. No one complains of racism.
The case in question involves the 13-year-old son of a black college professor in Illinois.
Medill Prof. Ava Greenwell reportedly claimed that when Office Mark Buell briefly handcuffed her son, Diwani Greenwell, it was "a racial incident. And this was why black males don't like police."
The cop has been cleared of wrong doing. Read the original news report here.
Another question comes to mind.
Why is racial profiling the only sacred cow?
There is also the matter of age and gender profiling. The cops intentionally cuffed a young male who fit a specific age profile while avoiding three-year-olds and ninety-seven-year olds. To keep themselves clear of any allegations of profiling, the cops would have necessarily cuffed anyone and everyone wearing blue cargo shorts, regardless of race, age or gender.
Answer to the second question: Racial profiling is the only sacred cow because we have been over sensitized to point of neurosis by over-zealous leftists lunatics.
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if the police make an arrest on somebody fitting the most accurate description they have I can't see the problem. If they said he was white and male I am not going to cry about ethnic and gender profiling.
If they *assumed* he was black then that would be profiling and incredibly wrong. If they were acting on fact with good intentions then its a non issue. Evanston/NU have been really touchy about the whole profiling thing - which they should be, BUT it has to actually be profiling. I remember there were a series of emails coming from the campus police and epd a few years back where they said the suspect was black, male, 6'0" and about 25 or some minor varient. Tons of people got all up in arms because they mentioned he was black even though it was accurate. If the police can't report that then they shouldn't be allowed to report height, age, weight, gender - anything. It wouldn't make any sense. For that matter by this logic they shouldn't be allowed to mention what they did,where they did it or thaht it happened as Evanston might be 'profiled' as having crime - which it does.
I think an important point is that just because the police release a description of some sort, not everyone in the whole world is guilty of that crime, but one person looking like the description is. If they mistreated the kid when they arrested him or if they arrested him based on a description that was not factual thats one thing. If they arrested him because he matched the description and in good faith then this professor needs to put the race card away.
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When will Evanston and the rest of the Midwest admit that racism still exists in this country?! The police have historically served, not only as enforcement of the law, but the enforcement of racial hierarchies. And if you start bullshit about how history doesn't matter, then you clearly don't deserve an education at Northwestern because YESTERDAY INFORMS TODAY AND TODAY INFORMS TOMORROW. It is that simple. This is NOT the first time Evanston and Northwestern police officers have harassed people of color on and off campus.
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Greg Reply:
November 9th, 2012 at 11:27 pm
Amen, racism is very prevalent in this country. The only thing debatable is which race is the most racist. I bet your answer is different from mine. One of the races in this country is very focused on their race, much more so than the others. While I won't mention which race it is, its members always assume that when anything bad happens to them, it's because their Black.
Why did Barack Obama enjoy 97% support in the Black community? Because his most important characteristic was the color of his skin. That's racism, plain and simple. Of course, this will be denied, but no one is buying that tired, worn-out story. Racist, racist, racist.
Who is most obsessed with race in this story? Ms. Greenwell, that's who! Did you catch her own racial profiling? "You're a black male; you know what racial profiling looks like". She just racially profiled that officer! Could you imagine the hellstorm that would rain down on a White person saying that? So, according to Ms. Greenwell's logic, because the Black community is so monolithic, the Black officer couldn't possibly have had a different experience. I guess we don't need to have more than one Black in our businesses and schools. She is saying there's no diversity in the Black Experience, so any more than one is just too many.
Remember the story of the little boy who falsely cried 'Wolf!'? The people grew tired of his garbage. We're growing tired of this crying 'Racist Wolf!'. You need a better Vaudeville act.
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Anthony Iglesias Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 11:37 am
In the past several Presidential elections, over 90% of Black voters supported each Democratic candidate. Therefore, assuming they are voting on the basis of "skin color" is unfounded. That being said, it is not a coincidence that, once again, most White voters did not vote for Barack Obama. Your extrapolation of Greenwell's comment is also unfounded. There is a difference between race and racism. Greenwell was asserting that as a Black man in America, he should understand the experience of racism, not of BEING Black. Apologies that the lexicon and discourse surrounding race is so limited that it makes it so hard to distinguish between the two.
The REAL Vaudeville act is the self-victimization of privileged Whites complaining about the small pockets of social justice for racialized subjects, NOT solely Blacks.
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Lee Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Then move to Africa. Free yourself of White oppression. Then pray for indoor plumbing.
Anthony Iglesias Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
I will only pray for your education.
Lee Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
That's because "people of color" commit the majority of the crime. Police arrest rates match victim descriptions of the suspects. But yes, police do profile - criminals.
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Anthony Iglesias Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 11:02 pm
The entirety of your statements are false.
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Ask Robert about the Celtic Cross.
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