Members of Evanston’s Human Services Committee are scheduled Monday to review the police investigation of complaints over the arrest of a 12-year-old bicycle rider downtown last July.
Ridgeville Park District Board member and unsuccessful 8th Ward aldermanic candidate Rob Bady claimed that police should not have taken his son Iain into custody after he was seen riding on the back of a bicycle that crossed a downtown intersection against a red light, nearly colliding with two cars.
After an investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Standards, the report says Police Chief Richard Eddington concluded that the officers who made the arrest “behaved according to departmental policy/guidelines, made competent and lawful decisions and at no time were disrespectful or abusive.”
He exonerated the officers of the charges.
However, the investigation concluded that a mistake had occurred after the youth was taken to the station, when an officer not involved in the initial arrest gave the father a formal station adjustment to sign, when other officers had concluded that the situation should be resolved as an informal station adjustment instead.
A formal station adjustment for a juvenile is reported to state police and requires an expungement procedure to remove from the youth’s record, while an informal station adjustment is not reported to state police and doesn’t require expungement.
The report concluded that the officers involved “acted in good faith,” but that there were errors in the issuance of the form, in the incident’s documentation and in the information conveyed to citizens.
The chief directed additional training for juvenile officers and modification of the station adjustment forms. The report indicates that the training was scheduled to have been conducted last month.
OMG
OMG, This is unbelievable. This is a very mild incident. The officers did their job and Bady is upset that his son was signaled-out. I would be too but it can be straighten out if he would cooperate with the city rather than treat them as an enemy. Just be nice.
Disgraceful
It is absolutely abhorrent to parade your kid in front of the city council for political purposes. And after all of this, the police were correct in their actions (as all of us level-headed people knew). What are we teaching our children? To be disrespectful to the authorities, and that you don’t have to do what they tell you? That is not a recipe for success. Sorry I voted for him after this charade.
You guys are totally missing
You guys are totally missing the bigger picture! An incident hasn’t only happened to Ian it has also happened to other teenagers and even Black men. Evanston police often over police and often mistaken every Black male fit a description of a crime. That happened to Diwani Greenwell back in 2012. I am glad the Bady family didn’t stay silent! They brought light to a very hidden topic, racism and in Evanston. Highlighting this scenario not only betters the police departments policies but also proves when you do something it will not go silent. Well done Ian for the courage and well done Rob for defending your son!
Liberal Lunacy
Jessica, I agree that police officers across the country need to be more equitable in how they conduct themselves and recognize their biases. There have been many cases of police injustice in our country, but this isn’t one of them. Ian Bady and the other kids are lucky they aren’t dead. It was clear from the police reports that the kids not only endangered themselves, but also the drivers in the cars. Our community should be THANKING our police officers for their efforts in keeping our community safe.
By definition, just because a police officer arrests a person of color; black, brown, yellow, or purple doesn’t by default make them racist or biased.
Each situation and each officer needs to be examined and understood and the case needs to be judged on its own merits.
Generalizing and labeling all situations and all officers and all police departments doesn’t help the situation and only contributes to unfounded misperceptions.
Thank you EPD for your efforts in keeping all citizens and our community safe. Please continue your diversity training, learn from your mistakes and continue to make our community proud of your efforts.
TP
Sorry Jessica
Evanston probably has the best police dept. in the Chicago area. Yes, they make mistakes now and then and occasionally have a bad apple once and a while but all and all they are pretty darn good. In the Greenwell case the police were 100 % correct how it was handled. The kid matched the suspects description to a tee and he was in the same neighborhood. In the Bady case, there may have been some discretion but the officer operated within the law.
Mister Bady was angry, I would be, as well, but afterwards things should have settled down. Mister Bady decided to blow it out of proportion.
The laws were all followed. The laws are for all races and should be handled the same for both you and me.
A violation of common sense
Any parent has a reason to be upset if his pre-teen is taken to the station for something so minor. All the officer had to do is pull the kid aside, admonish him and let him know what he was doing wasn’t allowed. Period. Yes, Evanston police do a good job but this was a mistake. Do you really believe a cop in Lake Forest, Winnetka, or Highland Park would drag a white kid to the station for something so minor? White kids there do all kinds of things more serious before even getting their parents called. The cops’ action may not have violated policy, but it violated common sense.+
My Brother….
A white youth was pulled into the Evanston Police Department many years ago for doing some thing stupid that endangered him and others just like young Bady. They explain why his actions where wrong and potential consequences of his actions. My parents were called and he was released to them after the situation was explained. Was he scared oh yes, but he and other weren’t harmed and he thought before acting wrecklessly again.
Mr. Bady took this public and when his son applies to colleges in a few years and they google Ian Bady they will read all about how he was raised to be a victim and not take responsibility for his action. Who will Mr. Bady blame then?
Also, you would really want the police talking to your kids and you not knowing?
When I was in 5th grade
When I was in 5th grade a friend and I were being stupid and knocked down a few snowmen in some front yards. A police officer happened by and caught us in the act and we were walking amen to the station and our parents were called. Overall while stupidl I would think a pretty small infraction. But I learned a valuable lesson that day and my mother was very supportive of the cops decision and I got grounded for a few weeks.
Not a relevant comparison
It’s not relevant if a “cop in Lake Forest, Winnetka, or Highland Park would drag a white kid to the station.” What is relevant is if EVANSTON police would drag a white kid to the station for the same misconduct as Ian Brady demonstrated. EPD is held and should be held to very high standards of conduct. And importantly the public and I mean the entire community should expect that EPD will impose the same penalty no matter the color of a person’s skin. Everyone should expect the same treatment, the same process, and the same outcome as established by the laws on the books, irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and any other parameter you’d like to list.
Don’t push the race button yet
Oh Mr. Blakley… I spend quite a bit of time in those towns that you mention and would say that those officers would likely not take a kid to the station in an equal situation including the black kids that reside in them. Yes, Blacks do live there! Life is a bit different for all who can afford to live there. Not much street crime, car jacking, homeless, gun play (unles you count the murder 2 weeks ago at a L.F. “house party”) or calls for service compared to Evanston.
Please refrain from pushing the race button until and unless it becomes truly necessary. It tends to lose its effect.
An Alternative Scenario for the Badys
Mr. Bady:
Evanston police officers witnessed your son and two other boys riding unlawfully and recklessly, three-to-a-bike, cutting dangerously across traffic. Let’s imagine that the officers who witnessed this conduct decided not to intervene, not wanting to be accused (again) of racial profiling.
In our alternative scenario where the police do not intervene, a collision occurs in which your son is seriously injured or killed. Would you or would you not immediately sue the City of Evanston and the EPD for racial discrimination, alleging that the police officers would have intervened, if the bicyclists had been white, to save them from the foreseeable consequences of their reckless and unlawful conduct?
yep…..
You got that exactly correct! Better to have a child a bit shaken, and hopefully will never do that again, than to have him lying in the hospital or morgue…..lawsuits for the EPD, the city, and the driver(s) of the cars involved. Mr. Bady, et. al. can’t see that that is what would happen???? Wake up!
12 yr. old’s arrest
I’m late to this, but here’s my take:
1. The boy(s) should not have been arrested. They should have been reprimanded and parents called. Then there should have been a mandatory discussion at the police station between the parents, kids and police about the dangers to themselves and others that could result in injuries, etc. It would then be up to the parents to mete whatever punishment they felt their kids deserved. I agree that going to City Council was extreme.
2. Adults who should know better are riding on sidewalks and blowing stop signs all over the City and not bothering to ring a bell or give a warning before they whiz by pedestrians. One step to the left and a pedestrian would be injured. I never see police giving tickets for riding on sidewalks anywhere, not even downtown.
Riding on sidewalks…
Hi Barbara,
Riding bikes on the sidewalk is legal in Evanston, except in certain areas specified in the city code — mainly downtown and in a few other business districts.
And I actually saw a cop on a bike who’d stopped another cyclist by the sculpture outside Sherman Plaza a few days back, and appeared to be giving out a ticket.
— Bill