Residents Raise Questions About Racial Profiling, Use Of Force

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet City Council heard from a half dozen Joliet residents who attended Tuesday night's meeting to draw attention and foster discussion about the conduct of some officers employed at the Joliet Police Department assigned to the city's east side. The residents who addressed the council came to voice their concerns about excessive force and racial profiling in wake of Friday's incident that involved a late-night traffic stop.

In one of the raw videos disseminated on social media, Milton Travis, 21, is heard demanding to know why the city of Joliet officers followed him and pulled him over.

In the video recording, the officer does not answer why, but informs Travis he is going to be put under arrest. Eventually, an officer returns to the parked car with four people inside and he smashes out the driver's side window with his wooden baton. Travis is yanked out of the car and thrown to the ground. He reportedly suffered a broken hand during the incident.

Additionally, the Joliet Police officers involved in the traffic stop used a Taser on one of the male passengers. Three people arrested in the incident were released on $1,500 I-bonds and the fourth, a 16-year-old juvenile, was released to the custody of family.

ORIGINAL STORY, VIDEO: Resident Questions Joliet Police After Arrest Video

Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton, the department's leader since 2013 and a member of the force since 1990, was at Tuesday night's meeting. Mayor Bob O'Dekirk asked Benton to address the audience after hearing from six of the Joliet citizens who spoke up.

"We have initiated an investigation into (the incident)," Benton said. "We have (the investigation) ongoing through our internal affairs division. There are also criminal charges pending, otherwise I would elaborate more on it. But I will say that there is dash cam video, there is body audio from the body recording and so I would ask the public not to take the snippet of telephone video that was broadcast throughout the media and jump to conclusions based on that limited information.

"And once we've completed the investigation and the criminal process is completed I will be more than happy to share that information with you," Joliet's chief of police informed council members and residents at the meeting.

Here's a summary of comments given to the city council from four of the Joliet residents who spoke:

Minister Mary White: "I am a neighbor to one of the male offenders in the incident ... and I am an African-American adult female as is my great niece who is one of the alleged offenders in this same incident that has necessitated my presence here this evening. During our east-side neighborhood meeting on July 9, the question was raised if the Joliet Police Department has engaged in any processes of self-evaluation specifically regarding their relationship with the citizens on the east side of Joliet as well as Joliet as a whole?

"This question was based on remarks that have been said over and over again that usually it's the parents' fault, it is the alleged perpetrator's fault, it is the community (that) is at fault ... for these unfortunate situations that happen on the east side and in our city. And, whereas I do understand that we all have to take responsibility for our actions, for our behaviors and the decisions that we make in any given circumstance and situation. And a response was, 'You know, a lot of people don't like the police in Joliet.' And then another response was, 'There is one in every profession.'

"My concern here is possible police brutality, abuse of authority and failure to gain and maintain trust with the people of color here in Joliet, Illinois. We live in a city of excitement because we are a city of hope, justice and peace for all people where police brutality, abuse of authority and failure to gain and maintain trust with people of color and all people must not be tolerated at any level."

Grandfather of two young men arrested Friday night: "I'm a citizen. I've been here living in Illinois, Joliet, maybe about 50 years. I retired last year ... I mean this is nothing new here. It's just Friday night my two grandsons got beat to a spasm and tased by polices on the east side ... My grandson is only twenty years old, birthday, working. They tased him, they beat him, they broke his hand. We need some actions, we need some action. I mean (we're) tired of talking. We don't see no results. We don't see any results. I'm not reading from nothing. I'm coming from my heart.

"What happened Friday night, it was horrible ... Who's going to prosecute the polices? They were doing nothing. They were beaten, all in front of eyewitnesses, at his home. So that's all I've got to say. I'm disappointed, I'm hurt, I'm choked up. When you see your loved one get beaten down, and you can't do nothing about it, because they got a badge and a gun and they smirking, it's ridiculous. I'm upset, I'm upset with the police, I'm upset with everybody on the panel because this is not no new story. This is the old school. They target the east side. And I think everyone on this panel know this. So, I'm hoping and praying that not just for my kid, my grand kids, but I'm hoping and praying for the whole community, something should be done about it. It should have been done a long time ago, thank you."

Ernest Crim, Joliet Central High School social studies teacher:"I speak today on the four-year anniversary of Eric Garner. Eric Garner was a black man in New York who was minding his business, he was stopped by an officer for allegedly selling loose cigarettes, which, would be a misdemeanor. He was put in a choke hold and he was choked to death on camera. The officer still has a job but the person who recorded the incident is in jail right now. That's the context of this whole situation ...

"It was said that the person in the car ... driving ran a stop sign. The officer pulled them over. The issue I have then at that point is, when he pulled the person over, he never stated to the person why he was being stopped, and the person in the car continued to ask, 'Why am I being stopped? What's the problem?' The officer never stated why.

"Let's assume that he did run a stop sign. That's a ticket, he should have gotten it. I don't understand why it was escalated to the point of him being yanked out of the car after the window was smashed? I understand, he didn't give his ID. He should have done that. But, why couldn't the officer, practicing whatever de-escalation process they were taught, go back and write a ticket based on the license plate? Now, again, I'm not an officer. I know it's a rough and I know it's a tough job, but, over running a stop sign why do you want to become combative? Why is that the first thing you want to do with us?

"Why do you want to beat us to the ground to prove a point? I don't understand that. And living in this city and living in America, whenever a cop gets behind me, I do not feel safe. No matter how many degrees I have. No matter where I live in this country. And I think that's the issue, and I think every black person in this country, in this city, can relate to that whether they want to admit it or not.

"I would just ask, and I wonder if we can see dash cam footage? I wonder what the de-escalation process is for the officers? How are they trained? Do they go into these communities and get to know the people? Are there programs in place to reach out to different groups of people, black and Hispanic, to get to be on this police force? What are the demographics overall? What is Joliet going to do moving forward because there is an election coming up and we as citizens deserve to have some answers."

Father of Deandra Robinson, 19, young woman charged with resisting a police officer: "My daughter was a part of the incident that happened on Friday the 13th. I just think that it could have been de-escalated in some way, if they would have had to call their superior to come and help. Why did it have to, after the smashing of the window, yanking and throwing down and all of those type things? I just think, like you said, degrees don't mean anything. I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. I'm a youth pastor trying to help kids to better themselves, trying to teach them the right way to respond to police.

"And when a young man asks, 'Why, why did you pull me over?' We still don't have an answer to this day until it reached the newspaper. We don't know if he would have given them that answer, maybe they would have complied. But our city police are getting paid by the tax dollars to do their jobs so we just ask to help us to help our young people and let's not beat them like they are animals. Everybody is human, so we want to treat them in such a way as that. There's many times I've helped our young people to de-escalate a situation in helping the police, and I think if the police are paid, maybe they should be trained to do such as that. Thank you."

OTHER JOLIET PATCH STORIES:

• Officer Lionel Allen's Lawsuit Accuses Chief Benton Of Discrimination
• 18 Discipline Cases Investigated By Joliet Police Internal Affairs In 2017
• Jefferson Street McDonald's Murder Still Unsolved One Year Later
• 28 Unsolved Murders In Joliet Since 2013
• Ollie Arrested In Joliet Murder Of Romeoville Man

Images via city of Joliet