Will County judge finds no evidence for Joliet police officer’s battery claim

A Will County judge found no evidence that a Joliet man battered a police officer in October 2023, and body camera videos show he was quickly hit with a Taser after he tried complying with officers’ orders to put his hands on the wall.

On Oct. 24, Jason Heath filed a federal lawsuit against Joliet police officers Jennifer Gruber and Jack Desiderio over the incident that led to his arrest Oct. 29, 2023.

Desiderio is the son of Joliet Deputy City Manager Christa Desiderio, who was once married to Joliet Police Lt. Robert Desiderio, court records show.

Judge Vincent Cornelius found Heath not guilty of felony aggravated battery of Gruber and not guilty of misdemeanor obstruction. Those charges had been authorized by Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s office.

After viewing videos in a Sept. 30 bench trial, Cornelius said there was nothing in Heath’s interaction with Gruber that suggested that he had ever touched her.

When it came to the obstruction charge, Cornelius found Heath had put his hands on the wall in an attempt to comply with Gruber. Cornelius said what he saw in the video was not “material obstruction, although not perfect compliance.”

Gruber had responded to a domestic call at Heath’s residence. When Gruber arrived, she can be heard saying in body camera video obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request “What’s going on?” to Heath and a woman.

As Heath is seen walking close to Gruber to speak with her, Gruber says, “Don’t push up on me,” and immediately points her Taser at Heath even though a woman walks right in front of Heath to tell him, “This is the police! Please!”

“Get away from me right now,” Gruber said.

Gruber continues to aim her Taser at Heath, who is standing with his hands up. Gruber tells Heath that he’s “pushing on” her.

Heath says, “I didn’t touch you.”

“It’s all on camera, buddy,” Gruber said.

While Heath has his hands on the wall, Desiderio is heard saying, “Hey, put your hands on the wall or you’ll get tased,” and then discharges his Taser at Heath within a second. A woman is heard screaming and then shouting, “He’s not doing nothing to no one!”

In Heath’s lawsuit, he alleges that the charges against him were “predicated on false and fictitious statements” made by Gruber and Desiderio. Heath also alleged that Desiderio subjected him to excessive force by deploying the Taser on him.

“Prior to being tased, [Heath] was not attempting to flee and posed no threat to the safety of [Gruber and Desiderio] or others,” according to Heath’s lawsuit.

The use of Tasers was one of the issues highlighted in Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s civil investigation of police department practices. Raoul’s office said its findings showed Joliet police officers have unlawfully used Tasers to gain compliance.

Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English told The Herald-News that there “was not an internal affairs investigation” in reference to the Heath case.