Video: Joliet police release footage from Eric Lurry death investigation

Editor’s note: Video contains strong language and content that some viewers may find disturbing.

Police on Tuesday released video from the Eric Lurry death investigation.

The video was released as Lurry’s family and supporters again went to a Joliet City Council meeting during the evening to criticize the handling of the matter by police and city officials.

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition also held an event outside City Hall earlier in the day to show support for the Lurry family.

The video was posted on the Joliet Police Department’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

“The video is a compilation from the three different cameras of the incident. Text was added for context,” police said in a news release. “The full videos were uploaded to our YouTube page with only undercover officers’ faces blurred/blocked in the videos due to their ongoing drug investigations along with faces of non-involved citizens.”

Michael Oppenheimer, attorney for the Lurry family, issued a statement calling the videos “heavily edited” and said their release “have only worked to anger the Lurry family as the Joliet Police continue to treat this tragedy like a public relations problem.”

The uploaded videos include three hours of apparently uncut video from multiple cameras.

The release of the video was expected since it was seen Friday by Lurry family members at the police station.

Some of the family at the City Council meeting, unaware that the video had been released earlier, questioned why it was not made publlic yet, and city officials at the meeting appeared unaware that it was out.

“I know the intention was to release it today,” interim City Attorney Sabrina Spano said.

Meshona Mitchell said the family still wants answers about what happened to him after seeing the video with police officials who discussed it.

“We met with Joliet police, and I’m sick and tired of the excuses given to us,” Mitchell said.

She said police need to be trained to handle such situations.

“I saw multiple opportunities to save my cousin’s life,” Mitchell told the council.

Minerva Snead questioned why the video was shown to media before family members saw it.

Police showed the video to local media on July 1 as it was being leaked, and it was evident it would become public. Segments of it have appeared in media outlets previously.

“I agree with you,” Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said to Snead. “It’s outrageous that a few media members were shown the video before the family.”

The Lurry family and supporters questioned the council during the public comment section of a special meeting.

The council then went into closed session where they were expected to discuss potential replacement for interim City Manager Steve Jones, who is leaving Aug. 7.