This post has links to updates on a few litigation issues involving the Champaign Police Department, the University of Illinois Police Department and Champaign County Sheriff's Office. The litigation against the Sheriff's office is available in the county Cheat Sheet here.
The News-Gazette had coverage of the Champaign City Council approving a use of force settlement against the CPD earlier this month:
By a 7-1 vote, the Champaign City Council approved an $87,000 settlement with a Champaign man who filed an excessive-force lawsuit against a police officer.Details of the litigation and the related incident are available at the full article here.
The federal lawsuit filed in February alleged that Officer Tyler Darling forced his way into Davonte Wright’s home in October 2018 and beat him unjustifiably.
The lone no vote came from District 1 representative Clarissa Nickerson Fourman, who had no comment...
Darling is still an officer, according to Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb, who referred The News-Gazette to the city's attorney, Fred Stavins.
Stavins said settlements are often reached without any admission of liability, as is the case with this settlement, and to avoid the cost of further litigation.
In more recent news, the UIPD officer was arrested after being accused of using law enforcement database information to get information on women. The News-Gazette had information on the background and accusations that led to his arrest:
A University of Illinois police officer was arrested Friday on seven counts of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony, for allegedly using police resources to target women between February 2017 and January 2018...More details on previous the previous accusations he was facing in the full article here. He has since pleaded not guilty and is expect back in court in mid-January according to the News-Gazette earlier this week. There were a couple other blurbs in the local news about it from WAND and WCIA, mostly citing the UIPD press release available in full here. Excerpt including timeline of events given:
The charges involve Sandage’s misuse of law-enforcement databases and security cameras to seek personal information about women at the UI and off campus.
The university said the allegations remain under investigation.
Sandage was placed on administrative leave in September 2018 when he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman off campus while he was off-duty, though no charges have resulted from that case, the UI said.
Timeline of events:More at the full press release here.
September 2018: A woman reported that she was the victim of a sexual assault that Sandage is alleged to have committed while off duty. The investigation was referred to the Illinois State Police (ISP). Sandage was immediately relieved of his police authority and placed on administrative leave. In addition, his access to law enforcement information and resources was revoked. He was later allowed to return to desk duty with the investigation pending, however his access to law enforcement resources was not restored.
January 2019: ISP provided information to the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office. Based on Sandage’s position as a recently active police officer, the State’s Attorney’s Office requested that a special prosecutor be appointed. A judge appointed the appellate prosecutor’s office to handle the matter.
September 2019: A second woman reported that Sandage sexually assaulted her in 2012.
October 2019: Both victims declined to participate further in the investigation, and no charges have been filed at this time in those matters. ISP turned over to UIPD the evidence collected during the investigation, and UIPD immediately commenced an internal investigation to address personnel matters related to Sandage’s conduct.
December 2019: During the course of the internal investigation, it was determined that Sandage likely had engaged in criminal acts involving misuse of law enforcement resources. UIPD provided its reports to the Champaign County State’s Attorney for review, and the State’s Attorney determined there was sufficient evidence to file criminal charges of official misconduct. The evidence also included photos of women that are suspected to have been taken without their consent.
“We acted as quickly as possible at each stage of the process,” Stone said. “We have and will continue to work diligently to hold the offender accountable and provide resources to the victims. We intend to be open and transparent about the process and will provide updates as it is appropriate to do so.”
Due to the time period over which the behavior occurred and the voluminous amount of data collected, the extent of who may have been targeted is unknown.
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