USA Today: Joliet Police Kick Whistleblower Out In 35-1 Vote

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Police Department's continued efforts to humiliate and punishJavier Esqueda, the patrol sergeant responsible for exposing allegations of police misconduct and evidence tampering in Eric Lurry's death, is the focus of another long article by USA Today.

One of the country's largest newspapers, USA Today reported Friday that members of Esqueda's Joliet Police Supervisors Association voted 35-1 to expel Esqueda from their group during a vote Wednesday night at the Joliet Moose Lodge building.

The headline for Friday's article is: "Whistleblower featured in USA TODAY 'Behind the Blue Wall' series ousted from police union."

Esqueda has insisted there was a cover-up taking place within the Joliet Police Department, under the leadership of Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner, concerning the death of Lurry, a 37-year-old Black man who died of a drug overdose after being in Joliet police custody.

Several Joliet officers who saw Lurry overdosing chose not to seek immediate medical attention to save his life. One Joliet police officer at the scene, Jose Tellez, has received a six-day suspension because he went inside his squad car and turned off the in-camera video system, which stopped both the video and audio recording, as Lurry was dying in Joliet police custody, documents obtained by Joliet Patch reveal.

On Friday, USA Today reported that Esqueda is still facing criminal charges for exposing a squad car video that showed Joliet officers slapping and cursing a man dying of a drug overdose.

Tellez, Lt. Jeremy Harrison, Sgt. Doug May and Officer Andrew McCue are all named as co-defendants in a federal lawsuit filed in 2020 by a Chicago law firm representing Nicole Lurry, the widow of Eric Lurry.

The lawsuit states that, "Despite Mr. Lurry's obvious serious medical needs, no defendant summoned medical attention for Mr. Lurry at that time. Instead, Defendants May and McCue attempted to retrieve bags containing narcotics from Mr. Lurry's mouth.

"In doing so, Defendant May pinched Mr. Lurry's nose for approximately close to two minutes, restricting him from taking in oxygen. Defendant May also slapped Mr. Lurry in the face while saying, 'Wake up, bitch!'"

Joliet Police Sgt. Patrick Cardwell, who serves as the supervisor group's president, was responsible for moving forward with this week's vote to expel Esqueda from his union.

These days, the Joliet Police Department continues to be the recipient of negative statewide and national attention and instability at the top of the police administration.

Mike Devito, the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council president for the patrol officers, told Patch in late October that "we are desperately looking for someone who can come in and mentor this young department and lead them out of this turmoil and back to where we were."

In January, Police Chief Al Roechner negotiated a $31,000 raise to pad his pension as part of an agreement with outgoing city manager Jim Hock to get Roechner to retire.

In September, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that he was opening a widespread investigation into allegations of unlawful policing by members of the Joliet Police Department over a long period of time.

In October, current city manager Jim Capparelli removed Dawn Malec as the chief of police after less than nine months on the job. She is now working inside the city clerk's office after returning to her previous rank, a Joliet police lieutenant.

Former Joliet police and fire board president Todd Wooten told Patch that, "privately, Capparelli had nothing but disdain for Chief Malec. In the two private conversations I had with Capparelli, he referred to Malec as dumb, an unmotivated lump, in over her head, and as always having an expressionless look on her face."

In Friday's USA Today article, Esqueda told the national publication that it's his strong belief that Malec wanted to fire him for his role in exposing the misconduct of fellow Joliet police officers surrounding Lurry's death.

Like Malec, Esqueda also finds himself on administrative duties, assigned to the city clerk's office of Christa Desiderio.