Tuesday’s indictment of Sergeant Javier Esqueda A grand jury in Kendall County claims he used a laptop in his team’s car to watch a video of Eric Lurry’s death.
Lurry, 37, died in January while driving in a police vehicle after being arrested at an alleged drug deal. Will’s law firm has ruled that his death was an accident due to heroin, fentanyl and cocaine poisoning.
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Esqueda has released a video showing officers slapping and cursing Lurry before he died. Prosecutors determined that there was no police misconduct. Joliet police finally released three hours of videos related to Lurry’s arrest.
Lurry’s wife, Nicole, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Joliet and four police officers, claiming that they were engaged in “intentional and unconscious acts and reckless behavior” that led to her husband’s death.
Lack of sound discussed in recently released Joliet police videos of Eric Lurry’s death
“You arrest the sergeant because he did the right thing, but you don’t arrest the officers for doing the wrong thing,” said Nicole Lurry, Eric Lurry’s widow.
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While Joliet is in Will County, prosecutors say Esqueda’s alleged misconduct took place in neighboring Kendall County. Esqueda’s lawyer, Jeff Tomczak, filed a motion on October 21 to dismiss the case, arguing that no action had been taken by his client in that county.
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The video in the above player comes from a previous report.
WLS-TV contributed to this report.
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