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Springfield Police Chief on the hot seat at Tuesday night’s City Council Meeting

Springfield Police Chief on the hot seat at Tuesday night’s City Council Meeting

A screenshot of Springfield Police body camera video of an altercation with Promyss Davis, 19. Photo: City of Springfield


Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – More allegations of excessive use of force bySpringfield Police Department, this time against a 19-year-old Springfield woman. The woman is identified as Promyss Davis, who was taken into custody during a traffic stop. Davis is accused of attempting to flee after exiting the vehicle and “actively resisting arrest”.

The arresting officer, identified as Jacob Walter in a police report obtained by CapitolCityNow, made the stop last Friday afternoon around 4:30. SPD that as Davis was resisting, she caused Officer Walter’s body camera to deactivate. A passerby caught the arrest via cell phone camera and it made the rounds on social media.

Ward 3 Alderman Roy Williams had some hard words for Chief Joe Behl. Williams said, “What makes me mad is that from the top down, you guys just automatically bless it. Like it’s ok, that’s fine. We’re perfect, we never to do nothing wrong”. Williams said SPD needs to learn to admit when officers make mistakes.

Alderwoman Lakeisha Purchase asked Chief Behl if a female officer was called, to which he answered that it is policy to call a female officer for a female suspect, and one was made available at the jail to conduct the search.

Alderwoman Jennifer Notariano questioned Behl about the officer being sent alone to make the arrest and execute the warrant. Behl explained a warrant is from the court and must be executed.

The footage of Officer Walter’s body camera and that of another officer who is not named is available on the SPD transparency website, but Behl said some of the footage of Walter’s body cam was not captured during the arrest do to being deactivated after being bumped, allegedly by Davis.

The Springfield NAACP has expressed concern and called the video “deeply disturbing”.

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