7-Day Suspension: Joliet Police Sgt. Slapped, Demeaned Eric Lurry

JOLIET, IL —In one of Al Roechner's final decisions running the Joliet Police Department, the city's departing police chief in January notified Sgt. Doug May he was getting a seven-day suspension in connection with an incident in the Joliet police parking lot on Jan. 28, 2020, in which "you used disrespectful language, slapped and made other contact with an arrestee."

The discipline report for Sgt. May was obtained by Joliet Patch as a result of a recent Freedom of Information Act to the Joliet Police Department. The seven-day suspension for Sgt. May does not identity of the person being arrested, but Joliet Patch determined that the suspension stems from the arrest of Black Joliet prisoner, Eric Lurry, who died several hours later at a Joliet hospital after being in Joliet police custody.

The Jan. 4 memo from Roechner lists an internal affairs case number but notes that "an independent investigation" was launched, and part of the claim against him was not substantiated.

May's seven-day suspension came just four days before Roechner's last day on the job.

Roechner's internal affairs memo informed May that "you used disrespectful language, slapped and made other contact with an arrestee. The complaint has been investigated and on the basis of available evidence has been found to be sustained in part and not sustained in part."

Joliet Patch visited the police station Tuesday and left a message for May seeking comment about his discipline. He did not call back over the past two days.

Roechner's notice of suspension to Sgt. May from Jan. 4 states that an independent investigation found that you have violated the Joliet Police Department's code of conduct and a Joliet police general order involving the use of non-deadly force. Part of that general order for Joliet police officers states in part that "members are authorized to use department approved non-deadly force techniques and issued equipment that is necessary to effect an arrest or resolve an incident when necessary."

Roechner and May had worked together closely for many years in criminal investigations. Roechner was the deputy chief of criminal investigations until his promotion to chief of police in August 2018. May has been on the Joliet police force since Jan. 3, 1995. He first became a sergeant in October 2008.

Although it took an entire year for Roechner to punish May, the outgoing chief's decision could mean that May won't face a much more harsh discipline, including termination, from the new incoming Joliet police administration that took over in mid-January.

After all, a Joliet police officer is not supposed to be punished twice for the same incident.

With Sgt. May's seven-day suspension put in place by her predecessor, new Joliet Police Chief Dawn Malec in theory, should not be able to undo Roechner's discipline, even if she disagreed with the punishment he imposed against May in connection with the Lurry case.

Meanwhile, Sgt. May remains one of four Joliet police officers named as co-defendants in a deprivation of civil rights federal lawsuit filed last August by Nicole Lurry, the widow of Eric Lurry. The other three officers in her lawsuit are Jose Tellez, Andrew McCue and Lt. Jeremy Harrison.

During his tenure as Joliet police chief, Roechner did not impose discipline against Tellez in connection with the events surrounding Lurry's arrest.

On April 14, Joliet's new chief, Malec, notified Tellez he was receiving a six-day suspension after an independent investigation found that Tellez had violated the Joliet police's code of conduct.

"The complaint alleges that on January 28, 2020, while in the east parking lot of the Joliet Police Department ... you stopped the recording of the in-squad video system. The complaint has been investigated and on the basis of available evidence has been found to be sustained," an internal affairs notice of suspension from Chief Malec to Tellez stated.

Because of Lurry's death, several Black Lives Matter demonstrations and protests occurred across Joliet last year, and many of the demonstrators called for the firing of Sgt. May.

Last July, Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda came forward and spoke with CBS Chicago Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Dave Savini suggesting the Joliet Police Department was involved in a cover-up and that police videos in the Lurry case were going missing.

Besides his seven-day suspension, Sgt. May was reassigned to another position at the Joliet Police Department after the city's Black Lives Matter demonstrations occurred last summer.

May was taken out the police department drug unit, where he was the supervisor. For the past several months, May has worked a desk-duty supervisory position inside the station.

Earlier this week, Joliet Patch broke the news that Joliet has hired Westmont private practice lawyer Sean Connolly to conduct an investigation into the Joliet Police Department pertaining to the death of Lurry.

"I gave him no parameters on what to look at," city manager Jim Capparelli said of Connolly. "I'm not going to direct his investigation. As far as Sgt. Esqueda, it is up to him."

On June 26, 2020, Roechner stated that he learned from the Will County State's Attorney's Office that the criminal investigation and their review regarding the death of Lurry was done. Will County's Coroner's Office classified Lurry's death as an accident due to heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine intoxication as a result of Lurry ingesting large quantities of narcotics, the chief said.

In August, the Chicago law firm of Erickson & Oppenheimer filed the deprivation of civil rights lawsuit against the four Joliet police officers who were gathered at the squad car while Lurry was overdosing on drugs in the back seat of the squad car.

That lawsuit contends that Nicole Lurry's 37-year-old husband died because Sgt. May fatally suffocated him.

The following news release remains posted on the website of Erickson & Oppenheimer: