3 Eric Lurry Videos Released By Joliet Police Department

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Police Department released three videos late Tuesday afternoon just hours after members of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH coalition came to Joliet, calling for the firing of several Joliet officers involved in the Jan. 29 in-custody death of 37-year-old Joliet resident Eric Lurry six months ago.

About two dozen people attended Tuesday's news conference outside Joliet's City Hall. The event was covered by Joliet Patch, WJOL and three Chicago television stations: CBS Channel 2, ABC Channel 7 and Fox 32.

Bishop Tavis Grant, national director of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, told journalists gathered Tuesday in Joliet that he was "greatly disappointed and discouraged by the video of brother Eric Lurry who died in the hands and in the custody" of the Joliet Police Department.

As he addressed reporters, Grant referenced other acts of violence committed by police officers against Black people including the 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke as well as the 1991 beating of Rodney King by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.

"And most recently, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor," Grant said Tuesday in downtown Joliet. "These images continue to play over and over and over in our communities and in our consciousness, and we've had enough. So the family reached out to Reverend (Jesse) Jackson and our organization, and we're here today to stand beside them and stand with them in supporting their call for immediate justice.

"What does that mean? We're calling for the immediate termination of all officers involved in Eric (Lurry's) death. The lack of proper, appropriate medical attention, the means by which those officers are seen attending to Eric in a very unprofessional and a very gross and heinous way, it's unacceptable."

Grant reminded reporters that it's been six months since Lurry died Joliet police custody.

"The vision of seeing someone obstruct his air passage by squeezing his nose closed, another individual putting their hand on his throat and then putting a baton down his throat to try to retrieve something," he said. "It's not medically accepted by anybody that is responding to an emergency situation, not even taking consideration how long he lay there without immediate medical attention, even the care of a paramedic."

Upon reflecting on the death of Eric Lurry, Grant remarked: "It is unjust. It is wrong and it is criminal for there to be a so-called transparent investigation, that makes more light of a whistleblower.

"Had it not been for the whistleblower, we would not have the video. We're in the same situation as in George Floyd. Had there not been a person who casually turned on their phone, we would have never known. So, for the city to make light of a whistleblower, this person should be commended for doing the right thing, because we wouldn't know what we still don't know. It is egregious and gratuitous to have this family this week to look at this video that has been edited, it has narration, it has been manipulated. So, we're equally calling for all of the video, raw video, untouched, unedited, released to the family and to the community today."

A few hours later, Joliet Police Lt. Chris Botzum issued a news release announcing that his department had released the video footage in reference to the Lurry death investigation, on the department's Facebook page.

The full videos, three in total, were uploaded to the Joliet Police Department's YouTube page, Botzum notified journalists.

According to Joliet police, the faces of undercover officers were blurred in the videos because of their ongoing drug investigations, as were the faces of non-involved citizens.

After filing numerous Freedom of Information Act requests on the case, Joliet Patch has learned that the four main Joliet police officers at the center of the investigation surrounding Lurry's in custody death are as follows:

Sgt. Doug May, supervisor of the drug unit. May walked up to the squad car transporting Lurry to the Joliet Police Station. May goes inside the squad car and holds Lurry's nose shut for nearly two minutes, restricting Lurry's ability to breathe while trying to recover a bag of drugs, the video shows. May also smacked Lurry in the head and yelled, "Wake up, bitch."

Lt. Jeremy Harrison, supervisor of Joliet Police Department's narcotics unit. May and Harrison have worked together for years. Reports show Harrison was the supervisor in charge of the drug investigation that included Lurry's arrest. As Lurry was dying in the backseat of the Joliet squad car, Harrison did not immediately summon medical attention to the Joliet Police Station parking lot. Instead, the police reports show that Harrison told new recruit Andrew McCue to put a baton or a flashlight down Lurry's throat in hopes of recovering a bag of drugs lodged in the throat of the suspect who was becoming unresponsive in the backseat of McCue's squad car.

"Lurry's mouth was partially open and I requested that someone, meaning any officer with access, get something to prop his mouth open and pull the bag out," Harrison wrote in his report. "I advised to use an asp baton or flashlight, if necessary, just in case Lurry regained consciousness and bit down so as not to injure the officer trying to retrieve the bag."'

Harrison stated in his report that he could not tell if Lurry was feigning illness or suffering from a medical emergency.

"I told Sgt. May to go to the other side and try and assist getting Lurry out of the car. I started to walk around the squad car to assist Sgt. May and could him hear say that he could see a bag in Lurry's mouth," Harrison's report stated. "At that time, I felt that it was a medical emergency to get the bag out of Lurry's mouth as it, based on my experience, had contained narcotics and was also a potential breathing obstruction."

Officer Andrew McCue, a rookie officer responsible for transporting Lurry back to the Joliet Police Station following Lurry's arrest in the Ingalls Park area. According to the squad car radio, Lurry was being detained on the afternoon of Jan. 28 on a charge of obstruction of justice.

Officer Jose Tellez, an experienced Joliet police officer partnered with McCue at the time of Lurry's transport to the Joliet Police Station parking lot on the obstruction of justice charge. Tellez and McCue - not Harrison nor May - would have been responsible for patting down the suspect at the time of Lurry's arrest on Joliet's east side to make sure Lurry did not have any guns, knives or drugs in his possession.

Illinois State Law: Several police sources have reached out to Joliet Patch questioning whether May and McCue violated proper police procedure while Lurry was clinging to life in the back of the squad car. The sources informed Patch of an Illinois police code that reads: "A peace officer shall not use a chokehold or any lesser contact with the throat or neck area of another, in order to prevent the destruction of evidence by ingestion.

"As used in this section, 'chokehold' means applying any direct pressure to the throat, windpipe or airway of another with the intent to reduce or prevent the intake of air."

Evidence tampering? Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda told CBS Chicago's Dave Savini that someone on the police force appears to deliberately tamper with evidence by disabling the Joliet squad car camera's audio system as Lurry was dying in Joliet police custody back on Jan 28.

Before the police car camera system's audio gets shut off for several minutes as May held Lurry's nostrils shut, the following comments were made by Joliet police officers:

"Get your feet up, bro."

"Let's go!"

"Let's go, what's wrong with you?"

"Come on!"

"Come on, we're not doing this today."

"Get out of the car!"

"Come on, let's go."

"You're about to get pushed out."

"Hey, wake up, bitch! Let's go!"

"Open your mouth."

"Open your mouth."

"Open your mouth."

"Open your mouth."

Then, the audio goes silent for several minutes.

The audio is revived after the Joliet Fire Department ambulance arrives at the police station and begins the delivery of Lurry to St. Joe's hospital, where he dies.

The squad car used by McCue and Tellez follows the ambulance.

For the first couple minutes of the video, you can hear the officers announce, "We'll be en route to St. Joe's following the ambulance."

You also can hear several deep breaths from the two officers as they begin driving to the hospital and one of them makes a loud, "Whew."

Patch editor's note: Warning: these videos below may be disturbing to some viewers.