The City of Urbana has devoted considerable time and energy to debating the violent April 10^th, 2020 arrest of resident Aleyah Lewis.  Shortly after the incident, a video of the arrest began circulating on social media, and the resulting outrage by members of the public resulted in the largest public response to any Urbana incident in years, perhaps decades.

Multiple videos of the arrest show officers threatening to shoot Lewis and another resident if they don’t comply with conflicting verbal orders, then Officer Michael Cervantes rushes the unarmed Lewis and tackles her after she pulls her arm away from him.  Three Urbana Officers pile onto Lewis and pin her down.  They punch her in the back of the head, and knee her in the ribs.  The most senior supervisor on scene, Officer James Cory Koker, participates in the violence, piling onto Lewis and adding several hundred pounds to the pileup.

The fact that the officers punched and kneed Lewis is entirely uncontested, and Police Chief Bryant Seraphin admitted to this taking place.  It is documented in the incident reports, and visible in multiple videos.  Just one video angle is shown here:

At the Urbana City Council meeting this past Monday, Urbana resident Sarah Nixon expressed concern that James Cory Koker was appointed to lead Urbana’s Crisis Co-Response Team, a unit recently created to respond to situations in which residents are undergoing mental health crises.  Nixon worried that, given some of his past conduct and in particular his conduct during the Lewis arrest, Koker was not the best choice for the position.    

Nixon spoke for four minutes, listing a number of desirable qualities for officers who may be chosen for such a position, focusing on ability to empathize and deescalate.  Nixon said that there were likely many other “excellent” police officers in Urbana who could bring the appropriate skills needed for the position.

The portion of Nixon’s commentary that sent Mayor Diane Marlin into delivering what can only be described as an astoundingly clear lie:

Nixon: “No one in local politics can fail to be aware that James Cory Koker has repeatedly violated the public’s trust, not least when he helped batter, with two other Urbana police officers under his supervision, an innocent Urbana resident, a young woman of color, in the street, on Good Friday 2020.

Minutes later, Marlin delivered the following rebuttal:

“To the speaker who alleged that a member of the Urbana Police Department battered a member of the public – that is patently false.  It is absolutely false.”

Check CU has clipped together a video of the Nixon/Marlin City Council exchange on January 10^th, 2022 and the April 10^th 2020 Aleyah Lewis arrest:

Check CU consulted the Oxford Dictionary for the correct definition of “batter”, and it would seem to be the perfect word to describe the beating of Aleyah Lewis: “strike repeatedly with hard blows”.   It is unclear why Marlin thought she could convince the public that one of the most prominent police incidents in Urbana history never happened, or why all seven City Council members sat silent while the Mayor lied to the public.

Check CU sought explanation from the Urbana City Council members seven days ago as to why they would not make any effort to correct a blatant and obvious lie during a public meeting, but none of them issued a response.

NOTE: after publishing, this article was edited to include better videos and images.