Joliet Police Sgt. In Court On 4 Official Misconduct Charges

JOLIET, IL — A 28-year veteran of the Joliet Police Department who suspected that fellow members of his department engaged in corruption surrounding the Jan. 29, 2020 in-custody death of Black Joliet prisoner Eric Lurry appeared in Kendall County Court Wednesday for his arraignment hearing.

Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda's allegations of corruption within the Joliet Police Department fell on deaf ears last summer. Instead, Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner and members of his administration filed felony criminal charges against Esqueda.

Now, Esqueda faces four counts of official misconduct with the underlying allegation that Esqueda, a Joliet police field training supervisor, engaged in computer tampering.

Esqueda appeared on Chicago's CBS Channel 2 with reporter Dave Savini last summer to reveal that he was the Joliet police whistleblower in the Jan. 29, 2020 controversial death of Lurry.

Last January, Lurry was arrested on the east side of Joliet, and while he was brought back to the Joliet police station parking lot, Lurry swallowed a bag of drugs in the backseat of a squad car.

Rather than summon a Joliet Fire Department ambulance immediately to the police station parking lot, Joliet Police Lt. Jeremy Harrison, Joliet Police Sgt. Doug May and two other officers, Jose Tellez and Andrew McCue, focused on retrieving the drugs from Lurry's mouth, Patch has reported.

After several minutes passed, Lurry lost consciousness in the squad car. He was pronounced dead at the AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center several hours later.

By July, Esqueda came forward as a police whistleblower after he had watched the squad car's in-camera video of Lurry dying in the backseat of the rookie patrolman's squad car.

An unidentified officer at the scene intentionally shut off the Joliet squad car's audio system so no one could hear what was being said in the presence of Lurry, according to Esqueda.

The Joliet police station as well as Joliet's major intersections were the site of several Black Lives Matter peaceful demonstrations last summer related to the community's outrage toward the Joliet Police Department surrounding Eric Lurry's death.

(Article continues below this John Ferak photo.)

Esqueda is being represented in his criminal case by attorney Jeff Tomczak of downtown Joliet's Tomczak Law Group.

The criminal charges were filed in October by Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis in Yorkville, and that's where Esqueda had his court hearing Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Kendall County prosecutor's office was represented in the courtroom by assistant state's attorney Mark Shlifka.

"This case is a posterchild for the code of silence," Tomczak told Patch. "It's time for the prosecutor's office to step from behind the indictment and let the public know what exactly is the message they are sending to law enforcement by filing these charges?"

A not-guilty plea was entered for Esqueda at Wednesday's hearing. He remains on paid suspension from the Joliet Police Department as has been the case for several months.

His next court hearing on his official misconduct charges is set for Feb. 11, Tomczak said.

On July 2, Joliet Patch quoted the president of the Joliet Police Department's Black Police Officer Association who praised Esqueda for revealing that he is the whistleblower surrounding the in-custody death and police video involving Eric Lurry.

"He's a member, and we're going to back him," remarked Dave Jackson, president of his department's Black Police Officers Association, which includes about 30 officers and supervisors of all races.

"If someone's doing the right thing, we're going to stand right there with them. Sgt. Esqueda has been held as a well-respected supervisor and United States Marine and has served his country and his community proudly," Jackson added.

Jackson also called Esqueda "brave as well as a hero" for coming forward, in July.

By late July, Lucasfilm — yes, the filmmakers of Star Wars — came out in support of the sergeant. Around Joliet, Esqueda is known as "The Star Wars officer." Every year at the Joliet Public Library's annual Star Wars Day, he dresses up as a Storm Trooper.

Lucasfilm mailed a several Star Wars autographs and action figures to Esqueda.

Part of the letter from Lucasfilm reads: "Hello Javier, we were deeply saddened to learn about the tragic death of Eric Lurry and the resulting actions taken against you for uncovering the unspeakable circumstances that led to his death. Once we learned that you are also a member of the 501st Legion — and hence an extended member of the Lucasfilm family —we felt compelled to reach out to offer our unwavering support to you and your own family."

Esqueda's actions of coming forward as a whistleblower are praised by the Chicago law firm of Erickson & Oppenheimer that filed a federal deprivation of civil rights lawsuit in August on behalf of Nicole Lurry. The lawsuit defendants are the four Joliet police officers who were present at the time of the in-custody death of Eric Lurry: Sgt. May, Lt. Harrison, Officer McCue and Officer Jose Tellez.

"One or more Defendants edited, tampered with and/or destroyed the audio and/or video footage from the squad car video related to Mr. Lurry's arrest and detention in an attempt to destroy and conceal evidence of wrongdoing," the Chicago law firm argues.

"Sgt. Esqueda also obtained and shared the video with various news outlets because he believed that the City of Joliet and/or employees of the Joliet Police Department, including Defendants, attempted to and/or had in fact, destroyed incriminating material evidence related to the death of Eric Lurry," the plaintiff's lawyers maintain. "In describing what he observed on the squad car video, Sgt. Esqueda said, 'It was almost like the supervisor looks off and says something to somebody, and then you hear the sound cut out. That's what alerted me that possibly (the Joliet Police Department) were trying to get rid of evidence.'"