An Illinois college student filed a lawsuit against several police officers who he says roughed him up and threatened his life after they mistook him for a fugitive.

Competitive swimmer Jaylan Butler, 20, was on a bus headed back to Eastern Illinois University following a swim meet in South Dakota on February 24, 2019, per NBC. When the bus made a pit stop in East Moline, Illinois, the team got off to stretch their legs. Butler wandered over to a traffic sign to take a selfie. When he was done, the sophomore made his way back to the bus.

He never made it back because he was stopped by several police officers from different agencies brandishing guns and shouting commands. Butler said he was forced to lie face down in the snow and that an officer pressed a knee into his back while he was cuffed. While he was being detained, an officer told him, "If you keep moving, I'm going to blow your f**king head off."

Butler told NBC he tried to remain calm but his “thought process shifted," when the officer threatened him.

"I felt numb. I didn't really know what to expect," he continued.

Butler was the team's only Black swimmer, reports Time.

Eventually, the officers realized they had the wrong person but took Butler into custody and placed him into a cruiser, anyway, NBC reported.

“The officers quickly realized that Jaylan was not the suspect they were looking for and had done nothing wrong, but instead of releasing him and apologizing, the officers searched his pockets and placed him — still cuffed — in the back of a police vehicle,” said the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement to WGN9. “After several more minutes, the officers released him, but only after forcing Jaylan to provide photo identification.”

The ordeal was traumatic for Butler. He began having issues with school and started seeing a therapist.

"I've been OK," he told NBC. "In the past, when bad things happened to me I tried to see the good, but this started to eat at me."

Butler and the ACLU filed a lawsuit against six police officers for a dozen charges including false arrest, excessive detention and excessive use of force. The officers are employed by three different forces including the Hampton Police Department, the East Moline Police Department and the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Four of the officers have been identified by their full names: East Moline officer Travis Staes, Hampton officer Ethan Bush and sheriff's deputies Jack Asquini and Jason Pena of the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office. The remaining defendants are listed as John Does.

Rachel Murphy, one of Butler’s lawyers, said his experience was unacceptable.

“I think we don’t realize how often people are actually interacting with officers in the way that Jaylan had to where he had guns pointed at him, he had a gun put against his head and thank goodness he survived and wasn’t seriously injured,” she told Daily Eastern News. “But this is still so hurtful, so traumatizing and we just realized this is something that really needs a lot of attention and these officers need to be held accountable.”

Butler is seeking unspecified damages.

Eastern-Illinois-University

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