A second federal judge ruled last week that Evanston police had acted reasonably in a racial profiling case from three years ago involving a Northwestern professor’s son, in which an officer mistakenly handcuffed the teenager in connection with a burglary.

The decision from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals came Aug. 6, nearly one month after fingerprint evidence implicated the actual burglar in the 2012 case. Evanston police chief Richard Eddington said the July 13 burglary charge supports the court’s conclusion that the officer was reasonable to suspect Medill Prof. Ava Greenwell’s son in connection with the crime.

“The subsequent tying of an offender with an extremely similar description to the crime scene by fingerprint is the icing on the cake,” Eddington said. “If you look at the plaintiff’s son’s description and the young man eventually charged with this, they’re extremely similar.”

Greenwell’s son initially sued Evanston Police Officer Mark Buell in September 2012, alleging that the officer racially profiled him and violated his Fourth Amendment rights condemning unreasonable searches and seizures. The rising Evanston Township High School junior appealed the district court’s decision in favor of the officer in March 2014.

“We are disappointed with the appellate court decision but not surprised,” Greenwell told The Daily. “I think courts are often behind the times as it relates to issues of race.”

Soon after the 911 call reporting the burglary on Aug. 30, 2012, Greenwell’s then-13-year-old son was spotted by an officer riding his bicycle near Chute Middle School, where he was an eighth grader at the time, according to court documents. The pursuing officer’s description of the teenager was similar to the one of the burglar that had been broadcast over the police dispatch: “young boy, African American, (wearing) cargo khaki shorts, dark brown T-shirt or (a) dark shirt.”

Judge Daniel Martin granted the officer’s motion for summary judgment based on an exception to the 4th Amendment regarding an officer’s reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop.

Martin found that Buell was reasonable to conclude that Greenwell’s son was connected to the crime based on the matching characteristics and circumstances surrounding the stop, which led him to believe the teenager was evading police, according to court documents. Buell had assumed Greenwell’s son was attempting to flee based on the breathless tone of the officer over the radio dispatch who had initially pursued him, as well as an instance when he placed his hands on a fence, ostensibly attempting to scale it.

“The decision really echoes and emphasizes the training that the Evanston Police Department does on a regular basis and its work towards adhering to all constitutional guidelines,” the city’s attorney Grant Farrar said.

Eddington said the similar characteristics of the man now charged with the burglary confirms that it was not a case of racial profiling. In addition, it’s important to take into account the tension and uncertainty in which officers must make these types of judgement calls, he said.

“In the here and the now of a crime in progress, I think the profiling issue is moot,” he added.

Greenwell said she maintains her son’s case is one of racial profiling based on the officer’s unnecessary handcuffing of the teenager.

“If this had happened to a 13-year-old young white student in Evanston, he would not have been handcuffed,” Greenwell said. “There’s no need to handcuff a 13 year-old on his own property if you just wanted to ask him a couple of questions.”

Paul Richard Downs, the Chicago resident recently charged with the burglary from three years ago, was 17 years old when the incident occurred — five years older than Greenwell’s son at the time. Downs, whose charges are still pending in court, was arrested after the police department received fingerprint results from the Illinois State Police Crime Laboratory in late February and the resident of the home later confirmed him as the burglar, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said last month.

The case also reveals the consequences of a delayed process of receiving key forensic evidence on the credibility of the criminal justice system, Eddington said. The city has since transitioned from the free state-run forensic laboratory to a private one that processes the evidence more quickly, costing the city about $100,000 each year.

This post was updated to include comments from Medill Prof. Ava Greenwell. 

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