Joliet Protesters Call For Police Accountability

JOLIET, IL — As has been the case throughout the country, it was a video that inspired the protest that began at 1 p.m. Sunday in front of the Joliet Police Department.

But it was not just a response to the death of George Floyd that was captured on video that brought protesters out. The video in question was posted to social media Saturday by Joliet resident Bernell Simmons. He said the incident occurred on May 21.

Simmons recorded the video, which shows a man in handcuffs being pulled out of a Joliet police car and onto the ground by officers, and posted it to social media.

His emotional post led to Loretta Hobbs reaching out to him and organizing the protest in front of the Joliet Police Department.

In an announcement on Facebook, Hobbs said, "They literally pulled a handcuffed man out of the car, they were (beating) the individual inside the car."

Joliet Police Chief Alan Roechner addressed the crowd, speaking initially about the murder of George Floyd.

"I thank everybody for coming, I understand why you are here. I understand, unfortunately what has been going on around the nation," he said. "Just like you when I watch that video of that incident, I couldn't watch it. It was sickening, it was upsetting, it's something that you don't want to see no matter who the person is that is on the ground."

He continued by saying that he is even more offended to have seen that other officers stood by and did nothing.

"If you ever see an officer that you think is doing something he shouldn't be doing ... let us know," he said.

But the crowd did not want to talk in generalities. Immediately after that statement, a protester spoke out wanting to know what was going to be done about the two police officers seen in the video.

Roechner said he had not seen the video until 7 a.m. Sunday.

"We have already opened an internal investigation," he said

Steve Newell wanted police to know that it is not enough for the police to say that they want the community to come forward.

"We want affirmative action when it comes to situations like this," he said. "It's like enough is enough and how can we assure ourselves that we can be protected and served by you guys."

In his response, Newell referenced the incident in July, when Konika Morrow, a black woman, was shoved to the ground by Joliet Police in an incident captured on video during a vigil for a missing woman.

Patricia Hernandez wanted to know what is supposed to happen when citizens come forward to the police and nothing is done.

"What if they do come forward and nobody does nothing about it?" she said.

Hernandez works as a social worker and said that she works with a lot of Latinx clients and that they report to her that they file reports with Joliet police and nothing is done.

"I see about 60 people a week ... you know how many reports they have made and nothing has happened?"

Roechner did not respond to Hernandez before attendee Trista Graves Brown wanted to know information from the police about cases that have settled with various dollar amounts.

Patch reported on a $450,000 wrongful arrest payout on May 12.

"They need to charge the officers, accountability has to be there," Hobbs said.

Hobbs then told two stories about her own encounters with police, one in Joliet and one in Naperville, when she was pulled over because police said they were looking for someone who fit a particular description.

"What they told me is that they had a robbery suspect," she said. "Let me tell you something. When you run my plates, I don't have a misdemeanor, I don't have a felony. When you look my name up, it ain't gonna be nothing there."

She said that she was eventually let go in both instances.

"Let me clear the narrative on this one. When I pulled my wallet out, the officer told that man, you don't want that smoke because guess what, she went to college. He seen my membership of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc," she said.

She said it should not take membership in an organization to be the reason she remains safe.

"That's the reason I wanted this to be a peaceful protest," Hobbs said. "I didn't want our city to be in a shambles."

"It's not about that, it's about us holding (police) accountable and then our voices can be heard."

Ernest Crim and Shy Richards pushed police to find the compassion to create a plan of action.
"You guys are so afraid of us," Richards said to police in attendance. "I graduated from Harvard and have had a gun pulled on me by your officers."

Richards was born and raised in Joliet.

"We really need to see the cultural competency training," she said. "You have a stressful work, but we live a stressful life."

The protest concluded with a prayer. Hobbs is going to host another event to brainstorm changes. The date has not been selected.