Eric Lurry Case: Lawyer Hired To Investigate 'Missing' Video

JOLIET, IL — The city of Joliet is paying Westmont attorney Sean Connolly $225 per hour and Connolly's private investigator Martin Walsh $150 per hour to investigate more details surrounding the Joliet Police Department's role in the January 2020 arrest and death of 37-year-old Joliet resident Eric Lurry, Patch has learned.

"The city has engaged Sean P. Connolly and Martin P. Walsh to serve as Special Inspectors General to investigate a possible missing video which may have captured video images of Eric Lurry's arrest on January 28, 2020," part of the document stated.

The next paragraph of the letter is called scope of the investigation. However, city officials redacted the next several lines pertaining to what Connolly and Walsh will investigate. Patch obtained details of the contract with the Law Offices of Sean Connolly through a Freedom of Information Act request.

On Monday, Joliet Patch reached out to Joliet's new chief of police, Dawn Malec, for comment related to the city's recent hiring of the Connolly law firm to investigate the possible missing arrest video involving Lurry.

"Eric Lurry's arrest was captured on the squad camera system and has since been uploaded to the Joliet Police Department's YouTube page," Malec said in her response to Joliet Patch. "The Joliet Police Department is not aware of any missing video that would have captured Mr. Lurry's arrest on January 28, 2020."

Malec was not a member of the Joliet police top command staff at the time of Lurry's arrest nearly 18 months ago.

At that time, Malec was a patrol lieutenant. Al Roechner was Joliet's police chief from August 2018 until he submitted notice of his retirement this past January.

Last August, four members of the Joliet Police Department — Sgt. Doug May, Lt. Jeremy Harrison and Officers Jose Tellez and Andrew McCue — were named as co-defendants in a deprivation of civil rights federal lawsuit filed by the Chicago law firm of Erickson & Oppenheimer on behalf of Nicole Lurry, the widow of Eric Lurry.

On Monday, Patch asked Malec whether her department's internal affairs division has already investigated the matter regarding the possible missing video in the Lurry case, and if so, what did the internal affairs probe determine.

"The Joliet Police Department's Internal Affairs Division is not investigating any aspect of the events involving Mr. Lurry," Malec wrote Patch. "In August of 2020, the city of Joliet's Legal Department, at the direction of the City Council, hired an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation regarding the events involving Mr. Lurry, including any possible missing video as referred to by Councilman Larry Hug during an open Joliet City Council meeting held July 21, 2020. The independent investigation is still ongoing."

Patch asked Joliet's current police chief if she had additional comments in regard to last month's decision by current city manager Jim Capparelli to hire the Westmont law firm of Connolly.

In an interview last month, Capparelli told Patch,"I am supportive of it because there's so much rumor as to what actually transpired," Capparelli said. "I think it's important we get a disinterested third party to do a top-to-bottom review of the investigation, to know how we conducted our internal investigations and how we can improve our policies and procedures."

On Monday, Malec replied to Patch by stating, "It is the understanding of the Joliet Police Department that there is already an independent investigation being conducted by a firm ... hired by the Legal Department at the direction of City Council that specifically addressed any possible missing video as referenced to by Councilman Larry Hug during an open Joliet City Council meeting held July 21, 2020. In August 2020, the firm of Ottoman, DiNolfo, Hasenbalg and Castaldo was hired by the city of Joliet. This independent investigation is still ongoing."

Patch also reached out to Jon Erickson, the family attorney for Nicole Lurry, for his reaction to Joliet's decision to investigate questions about a possible missing videotape from Eric Lurry's arrest.

"The Lurry family welcomes an independent investigation but only if it is indeed unbiased, thorough and transparent," Erickson told Patch. "From the moment Sgt. May and his crew brutally caused the death of Mr. Lurry, the Joliet Police Department and its former chief have engaged in a continuing course of sloppy lies, evidence destruction, falsifying police reports and the obstruction of justice. There is no doubt that the horrifying excessive force and failure to render medical aid by Sgt. May and Officer Andrew McCue caused the death of Mr. Lurry."

Erickson said that the Joliet Police Department has been doing "everything they can to obstruct, obfuscate and tamper with evidence ever since."

Erickson said Joliet's recent decision to hire Connolly's law firm was needed "to get to the truth and get justice for the Lurry family."

"If Mr. Connolly has been directed by the city manager to investigate additional video evidence that has been either destroyed or withheld — whether it be dashcam, body-cam or surveillance from a nearby business — the city of Joliet must be aware of it, and we will use whatever legal means available to get immediate answers," Erickson remarked Monday.