URBANA — Aleyah Lewis stepped toward the cameras present at the Champaign County Courthouse on Tuesday morning following her pretrial status hearing, surrounded by about 100 protesters.
It was Lewis’ first time speaking publicly since her April 10 arrest by three Urbana police officers made her a focal point in police-brutality protests in Champaign-Urbana.
“Before, I wasn’t talking to the news,” she said a few minutes later, after walking away from the courthouse. “I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just in my own little box, but now I’m ready to expand. I want everybody to see what type of person I am.”
The general public hadn’t heard Lewis’ voice since a cellphone video of her arrest went viral.
The video shows the aftermath of the arrest of Lewis’ companion, Kamarion Busby, 19, who was taken into custody after he allegedly fired a gun.
Police body-camera video shows that Lewis got into a verbal confrontation with officers and that an officer approached Lewis and grabbed her arm. As Lewis pulled away, she was thrown to the ground by the officer before a second officer struck her in the head, which was done “in an attempt to distract her in order for officers to gain control of her arms while they were trying to handcuff her,” according to a news release from Urbana police.
It also stated that an officer broke his thumb in the struggle and that officers did not know whether Lewis was armed. She was not.
An investigation by Urbana police and the Champaign County state’s attorney found that the officers acted within the law and departmental policy.
Lewis’ name became a rallying cry in the months after her arrest, when thousands marched across Champaign-Urbana as part of national protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Her bail was paid by the Champaign County Bailout Coalition, and Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin announced during Monday’s city council meeting that the city has hired a third-party firm to investigate the incident.
“She could have easily been George Floyd. She could have easily been someone who lost their life,” protester Maurice Hayes said Tuesday. “The officer had an assault rifle that’s wheeling around while he’s wrestling with her. So, the gun goes off, that’s an accident if he hit her? All of those things have to come into question right now. … One of the things that I challenge people to do is to go watch the video and then explain to me why she was punched and kneed. It’s as simple as that.”
On Monday evening, the group Champaign-Urbana Showing Up For Racial Justice put out a call for protesters to meet outside the Champaign County Courthouse the next morning — with Lewis’ blessing.
“I had been kind of under the impression that, you know, this happens in other places,” group member Jane McClintock said. “Seeing that video, I was like, ‘This is entirely unacceptable.’ … Clearly, their reaction the whole time is so emotional. They had so many chances to de-escalate the situation, and they just kept escalating it again and again. I think that’s what got me first; I was like, ‘I thought we trained these guys in de-escalation.’”
Lewis is charged with three counts of aggravated battery to a peace officer, a Class 2 felony, for allegedly punching, kicking and spitting on officers. Conviction carries penalties ranging from probation to three to seven years in prison. She was also charged with one count of resisting a peace officer, a Class 4 felony that carries penalties from probation to three years in prison.
State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said Tuesday the state has no plans to drop the charges.
“The case is appropriately charged and will proceed through the normal course of the criminal-justice system,” Rietz said. “I am hopeful the well-meaning and concerned citizens who came today to show their support for Miss Lewis will help us help her and others like her address the very serious issues they face.”
Lewis said she plans on showing her face in the community more. Her next court date is Aug. 11.
“My next step is to put my foot down and take it to trial. I don’t want anybody in the community to think of me as a bad person,” she said. “I really want to start stepping (out) in the community and doing more things in my case as far as protesting and stuff. ... They harassed me, they brutalized me. I lost everything, but I’m trying to keep my head up. I’m going to keep fighting for what’s right, because I’m not a criminal. I don’t beat up police officers. I was the person beaten.”
