People v. Agnew-Downs

936 N.E.2d 166, 404 Ill. App. 3d 218, 344 Ill. Dec. 24, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 995
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 16, 2010
Docket2-09-1196 NRel
StatusUnpublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 936 N.E.2d 166 (People v. Agnew-Downs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Agnew-Downs, 936 N.E.2d 166, 404 Ill. App. 3d 218, 344 Ill. Dec. 24, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 995 (Ill. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

JUSTICE BOWMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following an altercation at a college dance, defendant, Ellis Agnew-Downs, was convicted of resisting a peace officer (720 ILCS 5/31 — 1(a) (West 2008)) and unlawful consumption of alcohol by a minor (235 ILCS 5/6 — 20 (West 2008)). For the resisting a peace officer conviction, defendant received 18 months’ conditional discharge, 2 days’ incarceration, and a fine. For the unlawful consumption of alcohol conviction, defendant received 18 months’ court supervision. Defendant appeals both convictions, and we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In relation to the incident, defendant was charged by complaint with two counts on October 6, 2008. Count I alleged that defendant “knowingly resisted the performance of Jefferey Riddell of an authorized act within his official capacity, being the arrest of [defendant], knowing Jefferey Riddell to be a peace officer engaged in the execution of his official duties, in that he pushed, shoved Jefferey Riddell.” Count II alleged that defendant, a person under the age of 21, knowingly consumed an alcoholic liquor.

A two-day bench trial commenced on July 7, 2009. Jefferey Rid-dell, an officer at Northern Illinois University, testified first as follows. Riddell had worked as an officer for the university about eight months at the time of the incident, which occurred on September 27, 2008. On that date, Officer Riddell, who was in uniform, supervised the pat-down area for a dance event at the recreation center. Inside the recreation center, a hallway led to the gymnasium, where the dance was held. The entrance to the gym consisted of two sets of doors separated by a concrete divider. Attendees could freely enter and exit either set of doors.

Around 12:20 a.m., Officer Riddell saw that a student, later identified as Allen, was “extremely intoxicated”; he could barely stand up and was vomiting. Based on Allen’s condition, another officer ordered an ambulance. Defendant first came to Officer Riddell’s attention when defendant tried to remove Allen from the dance. Defendant was yelling that Allen was “all right” in order to prevent Allen from leaving in an ambulance, and defendant was physically removing Allen from the building. Although Officer Riddell’s supervisor had instructed him to cancel the ambulance, dispatch advised Officer Riddell that it was too late to cancel because the ambulance was already on its way. Someone must have communicated this information to defendant, because defendant ceased attempting to help Allen out of the building. Allen sat down in a chair near the entrance to the gym and began vomiting profusely all over the floor.

Defendant and another student, later identified as Marcus Ward, were in the same area as Allen “and for some reason were becoming extremely belligerent, being loud and very vocal.” A female officer, Weyni Langdon, and a female sergeant, Lucinda Brunner, were trying to calm the situation, but Ward was becoming extremely agitated. Officer Riddell felt that Ward might strike one of the students or one of the officers, and that he needed to escort Ward from the dance to defuse the situation. Officer Riddell instructed Ward that he would need to leave based on his behavior, and Ward was “extremely compliant,” agreeing to leave with his girlfriend, Kristin Lee.

To exit the building, it was necessary to go through the doors to the gym, and then across the gym to an exit door. Officer Riddell wanted to make sure that Ward and Lee exited the building rather than just mingling back into the crowd in the gym. As Officer Riddell proceeded to escort the two out, defendant forced his way between Officer Riddell and Ward and Lee, blocking the left set of doors to the gym. Defendant “came from [Officer Riddell’s] right side and wedged himself between” Officer Riddell and Ward and Lee, “placing his body with his back towards [Officer Riddell] and sticking his arms out.” Defendant then took a couple of steps back and forced his body into Officer Riddell, pushing Officer Riddell back. The force was enough to displace Officer Riddell’s body but not knock him over. Next, defendant grabbed hold of the “door jamb itself, the doorway entrance” to the gym and blocked Officer Riddell’s ability to move forward and escort the two out. While doing this, defendant was telling Ward and Lee to “Go. Go. Go.” Officer Riddell admitted that his police report did not include defendant’s statement to “Go. Go. Go.” On cross-examination, Officer Riddell conceded that he did not simply walk around to the right set of doors to the gym to escort Ward and Lee out of the dance. However, Officer Riddell explained that he could not ignore the fact that defendant had physically pushed him.

Officer Riddell advised defendant that he needed to get out of the way so that Officer Riddell could “escort those individuals out.” Defendant either refused or ignored him. Officer Riddell admitted that he never had a “direct conversation” with defendant or made direct eye contact. As Officer Riddell instructed defendant to release himself from the door and let Officer Riddell go by, defendant failed to comply. Officer Riddell then told defendant that defendant needed to leave the area and be escorted out too. With defendant still “maintaining hold,” Officer Riddell, using his left hand, grabbed defendant’s left arm just above the wrist and placed his right arm on the back of defendant’s triceps. On cross-examination, Officer Riddell testified that he was not arresting defendant at that time; his intent was to “just escort [defendant] from the dance as well.”

At this point, defendant broke away from Officer Riddell and somehow knocked down Officer Heard, who was nearby. Officer Rid-dell thought that defendant used his hands to knock Officer Heard out of the way; defendant knocked him down intentionally. Officer Riddell “had to get control” of defendant to prevent him from assaulting Officer Heard while he was on the ground. At this time, Officer Riddell noticed Officer Heard’s baton, still collapsed, rolling around on the ground. Officer Riddell did not know whether the baton just fell off of Officer Heard’s belt or whether defendant was trying to disarm Officer Heard. Officer Riddell grabbed defendant by wrapping his arms around the front of defendant’s arms and interlocking his hands behind defendant’s back. Officer Riddell then pulled his own weight up to get defendant off of Officer Heard and stand him up. During this time, defendant continued to resist and fight with Officer Riddell and to try to free himself from Officer Riddell’s hold. In particular, defendant was “motioning his body back and forth trying to buck [Officer Riddell] off of him.” In addition to the officers already present, who included Officers Riddell, Heard, and Langdon and Sergeant Brunner, two more officers came onto the scene. All of the officers were in uniform.

Officer Riddell was then asked what happened “after [he] had grabbed a hold of the defendant and he was trying to resist [him] for a second time.” Officer Riddell explained that he was able to turn them around in order to get back into the hall area, which was less crowded. Defendant then “pushed” the two of them “back into a set of lockers” that lined the wall along the hallway.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Vesey
2026 IL 130919 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2026)
People v. Saulsberry
2025 IL App (2d) 240492-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Quib
2025 IL App (2d) 250234-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
Haligas v. City Of Chicago
N.D. Illinois, 2024
People v. Mason
2024 IL App (3d) 220415-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
Carr v. Mendrick
N.D. Illinois, 2022
People v. Salley
2022 IL App (1st) 200294-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
People v. Ammons
2021 IL App (3d) 150743 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
Woods v. Adamski
N.D. Illinois, 2020
People v. Pritchard
2020 IL App (2d) 170720-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)
People v. Corral
2019 IL App (1st) 171501 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
Cindy Abbott v. Sangamon County
705 F.3d 706 (Seventh Circuit, 2013)
Brooks v. City of Aurora, Ill.
653 F.3d 478 (Seventh Circuit, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
936 N.E.2d 166, 404 Ill. App. 3d 218, 344 Ill. Dec. 24, 2010 Ill. App. LEXIS 995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-agnew-downs-illappct-2010.