Student tackled for stealing own car settles suit for $1.25M

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — A Chicago suburb has tentatively agreed to pay a former doctoral student $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging police officers tackled him to the ground and arrested him for stealing a car that turned out to be his own, his attorney said.

Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz confirmed a settlement was reached with Lawrence Crosby, who was 25 and an engineering doctoral student at Northwestern University in 2015 when the incident occurred.

Bobkiewicz declined to provide the amount of the settlement pending final approval by the City Council next week. Crosby's attorney, Timothy Touhy, told the Chicago Tribune that the amount was $1.25 million.

The incident was one of several high-profile cases in the Chicago area in recent years involving violent, sometimes deadly encounters between police officers and black men. Last week, a judge sentenced a former Chicago police officer to nearly seven years in prison for the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald, whose death was seen on a graphic dashcam video.

Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/student-tackled-for-stealing-own-car-settles-suit-for-m/article_d9bfbde9-f31a-5992-82ef-34072a1de55a.html