Photo courtesy of MCEG Magazine
An Illinois teen is demanding an apology from the Waukegan police after being wrongly arrested for a crime he did not commit.
Martell Williams, 15, said he spent two nights in the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center after being accused of a Dollar Tree shooting and shoplifting that occurred on Feb. 4, WGN reported.
While Williams was falsely accused of shooting the retail employee in the face, he was playing a high school basketball game in Lincolnshire on the night of the incident.
After the shooting, the Waukegan police department released surveillance photos of the suspect while prompting officials to question the 15-year-old basketball player.
“The officers said that multiple people came to him and said it was me,” the teen said.
Last Wednesday, the teen was abruptly pulled from class in front of his classmates.
“The dean came down and got me and walked me to her office. And once I reached her office, there were two police officers,” Martell said. “As soon as I got in, they didn’t tell me nothing, say nothing to me. They just said, ‘You’re under arrest.’”
Kevin O’Connor, Williams’ attorney, said the detectives immediately started working towards a confession once his client was in custody.
“They didn’t even tell him a shooting was involved. They just said, ‘Hey, it wasn’t your fault. Just tell us you were defending yourself. Just go ahead and tell us you were there, and we will let you go home.’”
O’Connor also told WGN that police even tried to coerce a confession from Williams by offering him fast food.
“Try to bribe him with McDonald’s saying, ‘look. Just tell us you were there,” the attorney said.
Though the 15-year-old was charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery, the case started to fall apart after his family proved that he was at a basketball game during the shooting.
The teen was released, and all charges were dropped.
“We are very concerned about the arrest of Martell Williams. Our office dropped the new charges as soon as the new information was presented to us by the Waukegan Police Department,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
Though O’Connor said Martell’s arrest record is expunged, the damage has already been done. The teen and his family are calling for a public apology from the Waukegan police department to clear his name before returning to school.
“They need to apologize and say he didn’t do this,” the family said.
“This is a continuing and ongoing problem,” O’Connor said. “The Department of Justice has been here, yet this is still going on, where there are false confessions brought in.”
On Monday, the city made a statement regarding the young man’s case.
“The city is reviewing the case, but cannot make further public comment at this time,” the statement said. “The city has been in contact with the juvenile’s family and their attorney.
The investigation into the suspect who was involved in the shooting has continued.