Black leaders speak out as Lurry video controversy mounts in Joliet

Controversy over police video of the arrest of Eric D. Lurry Jr. on Wednesday focused more on how it has been handled than what it shows.

Police this week began showing the video to selected groups without releasing it to the public, saying they wanted to clarify what it depicts to a group of Black leaders and local media.

The video shows two white police officers with Lurry, who is Black, as Lurry is losing consciousness in a squad car after his arrest at the scene of an alleged drug deal.

Some Black community leaders shown the video by police called the video disturbing while saying it does not depict brutality or evidence that the officers contributed to Lurry’s death.

“With the video, you can dispel the rumors that the Joliet Police Department had anything to do with the death of Mr. Lurry,” said Garland Mays, president of the Forest Park Neighborhood Council. “There was no police brutality there.”

Mays said it was disturbing when an undercover officer slaps Lurry and says, “Wake up [expletive].”

But it was the officer’s language more than the slap that bothered Mays.

“That was a shock slap,” Mays said. “But the language used after the slap cannot be tolerated.”

The two officers appear to be trying to keep Lurry awake while he is overdosing. They later pull several bags out of his mouth that police say contained a fentanyl-laced narcotic that caused Lurry's death.

A group of Black church leaders issued a statement saying the video shows the officers likely kept Lurry alive. He died about 10 hours later at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center.

The pastors criticized Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, who is seeking an investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

“We condemn in the strongest possible language Mayor Bob O’Dekirk’s continued abuse of power and smoke-and-mirror theatrics to deflect attention away from his own wrong doings,” the statement says.

The statement came from the Rev. Warren Dorris, the Rev. Herbert Brooks Jr. and Bishop Steven Evans, who have called for O’Dekirk’s resignation because of his involvement in a May 31 scuffle with two protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally.

Evans was with a group of Black community leaders who were shown the video by police on Tuesday. So was Mays.

O’Dekirk on Wednesday would not comment on police conduct shown in the video, but said he was troubled that he learned about it from “a whistleblower.”

“I’m concerned that no one in City Hall knew anything about it, including the legal department,” O’Dekirk said. “It’s not just that video. It’s every other video from that night.”

O’Dekirk said there could be video from the police station where police were removing Lurry from the squad car.

Councilman Larry Hug also emphasized how the existence of the video became known.

“The reason we found out is a member of the Joliet Police Department is a whistleblower,” Hug said. “This is not just the City Council saying this is disturbing.”

As to what the video shows, however, Hug said, “I haven’t made any judgment.”

Joliet police said the video and other evidence was turned over to the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force, which investigates police involved deaths, and that they were prohibited by state law from commenting on the case until that inquiry ended.

Councilwoman Bettye Gavin said she, too, found the video disturbing because of the use of the expletive and the fact that audio was turned off near the end. But she expressed confidence in the police department to address those issues.

As for the officer’s conduct, Gavin said, “I think they did what they could to save that man’s life.”

Gavin, one of two black members of the City Council, did not sign the mayor’s letter, although she said she is not against it. Councilman Terry Morris, the other black council member, signed the letter.