Malik Harrison, the University of Illinois Police Department officer responsible for investigating 18-year-old Akul Dhawan’s whereabouts the night of his death, has resigned from the force according to Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for strategic communications and marketing for the University.
Harrison was put on paid administrative leave in April after an internal investigation found that he violated two UIPD policies during his search effort. The details of the investigation, which was first obtained and reported on by The News-Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request, revealed delays and failures in Harrison’s actions on the night of Jan. 20.
Dhawan, a freshman, was reported missing by his friends at 1:23 a.m. after a night at the Canopy Club. Temperatures that Friday evening reached near-record lows, and he was last seen without a coat near Busey-Evans Residence Hall.
His body was discovered 10 hours later by a University employee less than 400 feet from this last known location. The Champaign County coroner later determined his cause of death to be hypothermia, with alcohol intoxication cited as a contributing factor.
Per the investigation’s report, Harrison received the dispatch for a missing person at 1:27 a.m., yet he waited more than 20 minutes before driving to the area where Dhawan was last seen, arriving at 1:56 a.m.
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After spending less than 15 minutes driving around the area without exiting his vehicle, Harrison closed the dispatch ticket at 2:09 a.m., stopped at the Circle K gas station at the corner of Springfield and Green Streets at 2:13 a.m., then arrived at the police station at 2:20 a.m.
When questioned by investigators, Harrison stated aside from driving the route and checking for iCard access activity, he “did not engage in any other tasks to look for Akul.”
The investigation also found Harrison failed to call for assistance from other officers, a violation of UIPD Policy 317, which mandates coordination between officers in high-risk missing-person cases.
A missing person is considered high-risk when certain criteria are met, such as being under 21 years old or missing under dangerous circumstances, according to the UIPD’s policy manual.
Harrison did not request additional help during his search. When questioned, he admitted he “did not feel an immediate sense of urgency” at the time and believed Dhawan would “turn up,” which he said happens “in most cases.”
Harrison stated he did not request help because other officers “usually assist after hearing the call over the radio,” but he did not make a radio call for assistance according to UIPD officers interviewed during the investigation.
The officer also did not communicate Dhawan’s continued absence to his supervisors, failing to file a report before ending his shift, a violation of UIPD Policy 323.
The report noted “at no point was permission sought to hold the report until the next shift,” and Sergeant Michelle Schroeder, who was Harrison’s superior on the night of Dhawan’s death, described this behavior as “not like normal.” Harrison later said “There should have been some paper” documenting the situation before he left his shift.
“There was no report. There was no check-in,” Schroeder told investigators. “Usually, there’s some type of communication … I was pissed off because I felt that people don’t leave things unfinished.”
The lack of communication impeded further efforts to find Dhawan, Schroeder said.
“Generally, when something happens, there’s communication with the sergeant and officers,” Schroeder said. “One person working alone on a case as opposed to a group (where) there’s more resources.”
The sergeant said additional steps could have been taken to find a missing person if there was more urgency.
“We ping phones all the time. It’s not unusual. It’s not some special thing,” Schroeder said. “Maybe we start doing a grid search and look, not on paths but up and down, high and low, left and right for this person.”
Harrison’s lack of communication and follow-up led to concern among Schroeder, which she expressed to other members of the force.
“(Officer Harrison) better hope this kid ain’t frozen dead outside,” Schroeder recalled telling fellow officers around 7 a.m. on Jan. 20, just hours before Dhawan’s body was found.
In a statement to The Daily Illini, Kaler addressed the findings of the investigation.
“The death of Akul Dhawan was a terrible tragedy,” Kaler wrote. “We conducted investigations into both the events that preceded his death and the UIPD response to the report that his friends did not know where he was during that time.”
Kaler added that incomplete information provided by Dhawan’s friends affected the urgency and intensity of the search.
“Many factors preceding that search were critical factors, including that when Mr. Dhawan’s friends reported they couldn’t find him, they gave police inaccurate and incomplete information about where they had last seen him,” Kaler wrote. “Nor did they share the amount of alcohol Mr. Dhawan had consumed, the level to which he was incapacitated or the fact that he was not wearing a coat or other winter gear.”
Additionally, Kaler said Dhawan had been offered rides home after parting with his friends, but that he “refused both (and) even exited one of the cars after someone had helped him into it.”
In February, Dhawan’s parents filed a lawsuit against UIPD, accusing them of negligence in their handling of the search. Kaler did not offer a statement on pending litigation.