NAACP alleges metro-east police chief used excessive force in arrest; chief denies claim

The Alton Chapter of the NAACP said a police dashboard video shows the South Roxana police chief putting his foot on the neck of a man who is lying on the ground and the organization wants the chief to resign for using excessive force, according to media reports.

South Roxana Police Chief Bob Coles said his right foot was placed on the man’s “upper back area,” according to a report by KMOV-Channel 4.

The video was recorded in January 2022 following a police pursuit during which the suspect’s vehicle hit a South Roxana police car, injuring two officers, the Edwardsville Intelligencer reports.

Leon Smallwood-Bey, president of the Alton Chapter of the NAACP, told reporters that the group received the video anonymously and that his comments about the video and Coles are not related to Coles’ campaign to be the Republican nominee for Madison County Board District 15 in the March 19 primary.

Coles told KMOV that the release of the video was politically motivated.

Illinois state law prohibits police officers from using “a chokehold or restraint above the shoulders with risk of asphyxiation in the performance of his or her duties, unless deadly force is justified.”

The man pursued by the police was convicted on multiple charges and is currently being held in state prison.

This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 3:41 PM.