College swimmer sues after arrest

A member of the Eastern Illinois University swim team is suing officers from three law enforcement departments for use of excessive force, court records show

Jaylan Butler, then 19, was stretching his legs during a break in driving near a rest stop in East Moline, Ill., when several law enforcement vehicles, their lights flashing, pulled up and officers appeared with their guns drawn and pointed at him, according to court records.

Butler, who is black, “instantly stopped, put his hands up, dropped the cellphone that was in his hand and dropped to his knees,” court records said.

One officer pressed his handgun to Butler’s forehead and warned that if Butler kept moving, the officer would “blow” his “head off,” court records said.

The bus driver and a coach got out of the bus and told the officers that Butler was part of the school’s swim team. Officers patted him down, placed him in the back of a patrol car and eventually removed his handcuffs.

Butler is suing officers from the Hampton and East Moline Police Departments and deputies from the Rock Island County Sheriff ’s Office who were involved.

Jeff Ramsey, chief of the East Moline Police Department, said in a statement Saturday that one of his officers had been searching for a gunman not far from the encounter with Butler.

Sheriff Gerald Bustos of Rock Island County said the allegations against his deputies were “without merit.”

Neither the sheriff nor Chief Terry Engle of the Hampton Police Department

immediately responded to a request for comment Sunday.