Man arrested for ‘stealing’ his own car handed Sh130 million payout from police

Dr Lawrence [Courtesy]

A student who was arrested for stealing what turned out to be his own car has won almost £1million in a hefty out-of-court settlement.

Lawrence Crosby was studying for a doctorate at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA, when the incident happened.

He was fixing part of his car on the street when a woman saw him and assumed he was nicking the vehicle.

She called the police and followed Dr Crosby, then 25, to his campus before cops arrested him for theft.

Dr Lawrence raised his arms as asked but was still detained by cops. [Courtesy]

He got out of the car with his arms raised as requested by the police but was allegedly tackled when he did not immediately lie on the ground.

He was reportedly struck at least 10 times. A dash camera filmed the arrest, which happened in 2015.

Officers discovered Dr Crosby was the owner of the car at the scene but still detained him for disobeying police and resisting arrest.

Their use of force was justified, an Evanston Police spokesman said, as they thought it was a case of car theft.

Dr Crosby was later acquitted of all charges and brought a lawsuit for damages against the city council and the police officers.

Timothy Touhy, the lawyer representing Dr Crosby, revealed the sum to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

Dr Crosby, who is African American, told CBS Chicago that he hoped the incident would raise awareness of unconscious racial stereotyping.