Bruce Carter Forum Goes Well For Joliet Police, City Leaders

JOLIET, IL - Thursday evening's town hall forum to discuss the Joliet Police shooting of bank robber Bruce Carter at Carter's mother's house on South Des Plaines Street ended on a positive note and many people in the audience were thankful to the city of Joliet for organizing the event. The 90-minute event was at All Nations of God and Christ Church, 503 Water St.

The panel featured the entire Joliet Police Department upper command staff including Chief of Police Al Roechner and Deputy Chief of Police Darrell Gavin fielding questions from the crowd. They explained the new rules and laws in Illinois regarding how police shootings are handled.

The late morning shooting occurred on Feb. 6 just two blocks from the police station.

Joliet Police Department's upper command staff explained that they had to defer the investigation to outside forces, namely the Will-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force, a consortium of more than 30 police agencies within the two counties. The reason this happened was because of a new Illinois law now in place that aims minimize conflicts of interest involving the police.

Before, Joliet Police traditionally investigated their own police officer shootings and Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, a former Joliet Police officer, told the crowd Thursday that he still believes that the best police investigators who work in Will County are with the Joliet Police Department.

However, as a result of the Feb. 6 shooting by Detective Aaron Bandy at the Carter house on Des Plaines Street, about two hours after the bank robbery on the city's west side, a Romeoville Police official stepped in and ran the investigation into the use of deadly force.

Patch has previously reported that the task force's investigation was basically done by mid-March, however, the case file remained in the possession of Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow for the next two months.

The lack of information about whether the Joliet Police shooting was justified or not began stirring rumors in the community that were unfavorable toward Joliet Police and the city.

People began showing up at Joliet City Council meetings questioning the Carter shooting and others were producing YouTube videos suggesting Carter did not even rob the bank.

Finally, on Tuesday, May 7, the Will County State's Attorney's Office released its written report of the case and Glasgow determined that Detective Bandy was totally justified in his use of deadly force; Carter was charging at Bandy while armed with a knife, the documents show.

Copies of the report, which is about a dozen pages in length, were distributed to everyone at the town hall forum who wanted one.

Additionally, video surveillance footage finally released last week from the First Midwest Bank made it clear that Bruce Carter is the bank robber. Video shows Carter reaching into a counter drawer to grab bundles of money out of the desk.

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Glasgow did not attend Thursday night's forum and neither did any members of the Will-Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force, although they were extended an invitation, the crowd was told.

During the forum, several of the questions being posed to Joliet Police command staff were technical questions or procedural questions that really had nothing to do with the primary question of whether the shooting was justified or not.

One man kept asking whether Bruce Carter fell forward or backward after being shot. Other questions concerned whether Detective Bandy and Carter were engaged in a physical struggle after Bandy fired his first two rounds from his police-issued 9 mm Glock. It was explained that a total of five gunshots were fired by the detective.

One woman in the audience asked if Joliet officers were trained "to kill 'em on the spot?"

"No ma'am," Deputy Chief Darrell Gavin responded.

Chief Roechner explained that Carter "charged at the officer."

Gavin added that Carter was told to show his hands but "he does not show his hands."

Gavin also told everyone that a substantial amount of money taken during the First Midwest Bank robbery was in fact recovered from Carter after the shooting occurred.

A key theme stressed to the crowd on Thursday night was that Carter's decision to charge at the detective while armed with a knife in his hands put the detective in a situation where he had to react in a split-second fashion.

Clearly, the detective believed his life was in danger, so he pulled out his Glock and shot Carter, Joliet Police officials explained, a finding that Glasgow's staff supported.

One long-time resident, Donald Sargent, addressed O'Dekirk and the Joliet Police administration, remarking that when he was growing up, parents taught their children to respect the police officers. If a parent found out that one of their children was mouthy or disrespectful toward police, the juvenile usually got "his ass kicked" by his parents, Sargent explained.

Sargent told everyone at the forum that the Feb. 6 shooting of Bruce Carter was straight-forward. "He was killed because he didn't follow the policeman's orders," Sargent said.

There was one episode during the question and answer session that drew a reaction from Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

Although Joliet Patch and other news media outlets were notified that the event was meant to be a question and answer geared for the residents of Joliet, Felix Sarver, a news reporter for The Joliet Herald-News, the city's print newspaper, kept shouting out questions and being disrespectful to the panel, the mayor said.

Early on during the forum, the mayor spoke up and told Sarver that the panel would being taking questions from the citizens of the community, not the press. However, Sarver continued shouting out questions as the forum continued.

Finally, O'Dekirk spoke up and told Sarver he had "embarrassed yourself" with how he has covered the Bruce Carter case.

The Joliet Herald-News ran a front-page headline within days of the shooting that read, "They Killed An Innocent Man."

On Friday, Mayor O'Dekirk told Patch that "I said he embarrassed himself. He was really disrespectful toward the people and his behavior was really disruptive."

Overall, the mayor was pleased with the town hall event, although it was a small crowd. He said it was important for city leaders and the Joliet Police Department to show the community that they are accountable and will do their best to answer questions when a situation such as a deadly police shooting involving a local resident occurs.

The last time Joliet Police shot and killed a resident was in March 2015, after a burglary near Richards Street. That shooting was also deemed justified because one of the two burglars was reaching for his handgun as he was fleeing the officer giving chase.

To read The Joliet Herald-News' coverage of Thursday night's forum, you can find it here.