Teen's family sues cops for extracting false confession to a shooting

The mother of a Waukegan teenager who was charged a year ago with a shooting he did not commit is suing that northern suburb and three of its police officers, blaming them for the child’s false confession.

Police arrested the teen, Martell Williams, at his school and drove the 15-year-old freshman to a police station, where they interrogated him until he confessed to the shooting, which injured a dollar-store clerk. Charged with aggravated battery, he spent two nights in juvenile detention and was not released until his family proved he was playing a high school basketball game in another suburb when the shooting took place.

“It has just been a continuous pattern by this city,” said attorney Kevin O’Connor, who filed the suit Wednesday in federal court for the boy’s mother, Shanika Williams. “They are extracting false confessions, and they’re letting people who commit murders or attempted murders go free.”

The lawsuit’s three officer defendants did not return messages seeking comment.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/2/19/23604868/teens-family-sues-waukegan-cops-for-extracting-false-confession-to-a-shooting

Held for hours, pressed for hours, deprived of food, no lawyer, and then told "Just tell us what happened and you can go home"

Unacceptable.