On July 17th, 2023, Lamar Bell was driving on the south side of Rockford, Illinois.
Illinois State Trooper Daniel Monaco and Sergeant Michael Steele seen Lamar’s red Cadillac and began to follow the car. They eventually turned on their light causing Lamar to pull over right in front of Tenth Avenue Park at 8:00 P.M. Their reasoning for the stop was allegedly due to the window tint.
Monaco approached the Cadillac and observed Lamar acting erratically. He ordered Lamar out of the vehicle, searched for weapons, put him in cuffs, then searched the vehicle where he found wet baggies of what he assumed to be remnants of cocaine.
Monaco placed Lamar in the front passenger seat of his patrol car before he continued to search the car. Monaco gathered the baggies and told Steele “(Lamar) swallowed all of these.”
One of the first things Lamar said to the troopers was that he was scared. When asked why, he replied because police killed my dad. Just over two decades prior, Rockford Police Department officers shoved Lee Charles Bell to the ground so hard his head cracked on the sidewalk. He later died from his injuries.
The two found more baggies and began to question Lamar on how much cocaine he had swallowed. Lamar’s behavior is increasingly erratic and he began to ask officer’s call for an ambulance. At some points he admits to swallowing cocaine and continues to request an ambulance.
When his request wasn’t met, he began to kick the inside of the squad causing officers to drag him out of the vehicle and laid him on the sidewalk with his head resting on officers legs.
Lamar continued to request medical assistance but instead of calling for medics, the troopers continued to question on how much cocaine he consumed saying they needed to know before they called for an ambulance.
As he continued to beg for an ambulance, he also asked the troopers if they could call his mother.
This continued as Rockford Park District cop Ben Champion arrived to the scene. Nearly half an hour from the initial stop, the state troopers called for a Rockford Police Department transport van to take Lamar to jail. A few minutes later, they finally called for medics to come to the scene.
Fifteen minutes later, 45 minutes after the initial stop, Lamar finally arrived at Swedish American Hospital where he later died.