A teenager has claimed that in order to get him to confess, police officers bribed him with McDonald's.
Police wrongly accused Martell Williams of fatally shooting an employee of his local Waukegan Dollar Store in the face on February 4.
After releasing surveillance photos of the suspect, officers reportedly had 'multiple people' tell them it was the 15-year-old high school freshman.
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Williams resultantly spent two nights at Waukegan's police department, before a time-stamped photograph of him at a basketball game in Lincolnshire proved his innocence.
Despite being proven innocent, Williams' attorney, Kevin O'Connor, is calling for the police to issue a public apology over their handling of the teenager, ABC 7 Chicago reports.
Williams described being pulled out of class by his school's dean. He said: 'The dean came down and got me and walked me to her office. And once I reached her office, there were two police officers. As soon as I got in, they didn't tell me nothing, say nothing to me. They just said, 'You're under arrest'.'
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O'Connor continued: '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'.'
Williams also claimed that in a bid to get him to confess to the crime the officers tried to bribe him with McDonald's. 'They tried to bribe him with McDonald's and saying, ‘look just tell us you were there,' O'Connor told Fox 32 Chicago.
Williams' record has since been expunged, however O'Connor hopes that a public apology from the police will help reverse the negative impact on the teenager's reputation which the police are said to have caused when they turned up to his school.
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Williams was set to return to school today, Tuesday, February 22.
O'Connor reflected: 'This is a continuing and ongoing problem. The Department of Justice has been here, yet this is still going on, where there are false confessions brought in.'
On Monday, February 21, the City of Waukegan police stated it was 'reviewing the case,' but could not 'make further public comment at this time'.
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It concluded: 'With regard to the juvenile suspect who was arrested last Wednesday and subsequently released and cleared of any accusations on Friday, the City is reviewing the case, but cannot make further public comment at this time. The City has been in contact with the juvenile’s family and their attorney. The City will continue to communicate with and provide information to the family’s attorney as it gathers the facts and circumstances that led to this situation.
'At this time, the City has no further comment on this issue. The shooting incident from February 4, 2022, remains an open and active case.'
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Topics: McDonalds, US News, no-article-matching
Poppy Bilderbeck