Taylor Brown Indicted for Aggravated Battery of Police Officers

It’s been almost a year since Taylor Brown was arrested by Normal Police Department officers, with the videos of her arrest going viral. On February 9th, 2023, following a suspicious fire at her residence, Taylor Brown was at the Normal Police Department waiting to be interviewed by police detectives. After several hours of waiting for a detective to arrive, she chose to leave the police station, since she had not been charged with any crime.

However, before she could leave, Officer Serena Cunningham, under orders from Detective Tyler VanWynsberg, seized Brown’s cellphone without a warrant and without articulating any probable cause. Brown resisted leading to an intense scuffle between Brown and six Normal Police Department officers. Brown can be seen to have physically struck at least two of the officers attacking her as they attempted to seize her phone and subdue her. Before and during the unwarranted seizure, Brown was on the phone with her mother, a Chicago Police Detective who has yet to be identified.

Brown’s phone was seized, and she was arrested for Aggravated Battery of a Police Officer and Resisting Arrest. Yet, in a shocking turn of events, Brown was released from the McLean County Jail several hours later with no charges and no bond. Her cell phone was later returned to her.

Brown later filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Normal Police Department alleging she was falsely arrested, illegally had her phone seized from her, and was battered by Normal Police Officers.

Nearly a year later, Brown was charged with two counts of Aggravated Battery of a Police Officer on January 17th, 2024. The charges were filed by Tom Brown of the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor. These are two Class C felonies.

Last May, McLean County States’ Attorney Erika Reynolds recused her office from the case that involves allegations of aggravated arson, aggravated battery of a peace officer, and resisting or obstructing a peace officer, instead of taking the information from the police investigation to a grand jury. WGLT’s Charlie Schlenker reported that, “State’s Attorney Erika Reynolds said her office is transferring the case because it has a conflict, though she declined to describe the conflict and cited court limitations on public statements about pending cases.“

The two civil rights lawyers that originally filed the lawsuit, Abby Bakos and Ronak Maisuria, have both filed motions to withdraw from the Brown’s civil suit according to reporting by Drew Zimmerman of the Pantagraph. Zimmerman further reported that Brown’s attorneys filed their motion to withdraw, because “information came to light during the discovery process that was previously unknown to counsel some time after September 15.”

There has still been no information released by the Normal Police Department or any States’ Attorneys Office regarding the fire which occurred at Brown’s home on February 8th, 2023.

In a bombshell, exclusive interview with Agitation Rising, Brown’s roommate Ashontis Davis, accused Brown of causing the fire that left four women homeless. Davis alleged that Brown broke into another roommate’s locked room and started the fire. This was hours after a domestic incident occurred at the house between Brown and this other roommate. Since this roommate has not consented to be named, Agitation Rising has chosen to call her Zi. (A fourth roommate was out of town during this entire period.)

After NPD officers responded to the domestic incident, it was decided Zi would leave the house for the night and stay with a friend in Peoria. Officer’s noted in their incident report that Zi locked her bedroom door before leaving.

Brown has not been charged with any crime related to the fire at her house. According to Drew Zimmerman of the Pantagraph, “Brad Rigdon, first assistant state’s attorney for McLean County, said his office has requested the appointment of a special prosecutor for Brown’s criminal case.”

Taylor Brown’s arraignment for her criminal charges is scheduled for February 16th, 2024 at 10 AM in court room 3A.

Brown’s next court date for her civil case against the Normal Police Department is scheduled for February 15th, 2024 at 11 AM. Taylor Brown has not responded to multiple requests for an interview with Agitation Rising.

Brown is innocent of all crimes until proven guilty in a court of law.

Outstanding questions remain: why did it take so long for charges to be filed against Taylor Brown? How and why was she initially released from jail with no charges and no bond? Why did States’ Attorney Erika Reynolds recuse her office from working on this case? When will information regarding the fire investigation be released to the public? Will Taylor Brown be charged with arson?

This article was originally published at strangecornersofthought.com.