A 24-year-old man was arrested for refusing to give a police officer his birthdate. The man was collecting signatures so he could run for public office when the police officer approached him and asked for his name and birthdate. The police officer and her superior officer are currently on paid leave.
Two Evanston police officers are on leave and the department has launched an internal investigation after a 24-year-old African-American man was arrested Sunday while collecting signatures to run for local public office, according to Evanston Police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan.
Devon Reid, 24, was in the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue in downtown Evanston when he was stopped just after 5:30 p.m., Dugan said.
Dugan said one of the officers, a white woman, saw Reid and another man with clipboards and wondered what they were doing. He said she stopped them and asked for their names and birth dates. The other man was a white 23-year-old, according to a Monday release by the city.
The men gave their names but Reid, who said he hopes to run for Evanston city clerk, refused to give his birth date, Dugan said.
“She asked several times. He refused several times,” Dugan said. Finally, the officer told Reid she would arrest him if he did not give his birth date. He still refused and she put him under arrest after calling for assistance from another officer, an African-American man.