Eric Lurry Protest At Joliet Police Station Held

JOLIET, IL - Ollie Autman has only one son. And now, she has only one goal.

“Eric Jr. was my only child and I want everyone, officers, everyone who had hands in my son’s murder/homicide, I want them to be charged with murder,” she said.

Autman is Eric Lurry’s mother. Lurry died after being arrested by the Joliet Police Department on Jan. 28. A video of his arrest was leaked by Joliet Police Sergeant Javier Esqueda.

Autman spoke at a protest held outside the Joliet Police Department on July 3 that was organized by AndJustUS4All.

Loretta Hobbs is one of the founders of AndJustUs4All and said the protest was to support the family of Lurry and to elicit change.

“Stop pretending that our skin color is a weapon,” Hobbs said during the protest.

Many family members of Lurry spoke at the protest, including his wife Nicole Lurry and his children. About 150 people attended.

“My husband didn’t deserve what Joliet Police Department did to him,” Nicole Lurry said. “ He didn’t deserve to be slapped, he didn’t deserve to have his nose pinched for almost two minutes. You see he was already in distress. You did nothing to help him. Absolutely nothing at all. You didn’t follow proper protocol or procedures.You let him die, you killed my husband.”

While she was speaking, Hobbs instructed protestors to hold up signs in support of Nicole Lurry and Eric Lurry.

“Eric has a family, he has children who love him, he has a mother, a wife, a son, a daughter. He was a grandson and everybody loved him,” Nicole Lurry said. “He didn’t deserve this at all.

“I want justice for my husband. I want those officers arrested, put in jail and charged. All my family wants is justice. Justice for B.J.”

Protestors chanted "Justice for B.J." at the end of Nicole Lurry speaking.

Lurry’s children also spoke at the protest.

“This is my father we’re talking about. I won’t ever get another father,"Eric Lurry III said. "We won’t ever get another father. What the Joliet police, what they did, we want justice for it, every one of them. It’s not fair, it’s not fair at all. It’s not fair to us. We never get another father...you all took him from us and that’s just not right.”

His sisters agreed.

My name is Erica, I’m his second daughter and I watched my dad die,” she said. “I watched videos, I went to the hospital and I held his lifeless hand.
“Joliet Police Department killed my dad and I will never get another dad.”

Erica Lurry broke down at the end of speaking and was unable to continue.

In addition to hearing the Lurry family speak about Eric Lurry, others in the Joliet area who said they have faced brutality from the Joliet Police Department spoke, including Konika Morrow, who,back in Aug. 2019 was tackled to the ground by Joliet Police Officer Adam Stapleton in a video seen by the public.

The Lurry family has retained attorney Michael Oppenheimer of the firm Erickson and Oppenheimer, LLC. He spoke with the press just after the protest. He said Nicole Lurry was not giving additional statements to the press, but he would.

“I think they murdered him,” Oppenheimer said of the Joliet Police Department's handling of Eric Lurry. “They slapped him and called him a bitch...they hold his nose shut for a minute and 36 seconds.”

The video that has been seen in varying lengths by different groups of people, show Joliet Police Sergeant Doug Mays enter the vehicle, slap Lurry, call him a bitch and then hold his nose shut. Joliet Police has said that was an attempt to open Lurry’s mouth because he was having a medical emergency.

“It’s only when they realize he isn’t breathing that they go and get the defibrillator,” Oppenheimer said.

Oppenheimer said he is seeking an independent autopsy for Lurry.

“A Medical Examiner needs to know all the facts and I don’t know if (the medical examiner) know that (May) held his nose for a minute and 38 seconds,” he said.

On July 2, Will County Coroner Patrick K. O’Neil released his findings that Lurry died from a drug overdose.

“Mr. Lurry had fatal doses of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine in his system,” the release states. “The levels or concentrations were over 10 times the fatal range.”

Oppenheimer also contradicted police statements that Nicole Lurry has been given the police reports from the night of her husband’s death.

“She doesn’t have police reports,” he said.

He said she was given an EMS report and some additional paperwork, but that he cannot wait to see the police reports.