Whistleblower ex-Joliet, Illinois police sergeant files lawsuit over retaliation
A former police sergeant in Joliet who was at one point charged after leaking squad car video of a man who died in Joliet police custody has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over retaliation he faced.
In 2020, Joliet police Sgt. Javier Esqueda blew the whistle on the death of Eric Lurry, a 37-year-old Black man who died while in Joliet police custody. Video first obtained by the CBS 2 Investigators showed Lurry in the back seat of a squad car, handcuffed during a drug-related arrest.
Shortly after releasing the video first to the CBS News Chicago Investigator Dave Savini in July 2020 , Esqueda was arrested and charged with felony "official misconduct" for the leak. The charges were later dropped in December of 2024.
According to the lawsuit, Javier Esqueda is seeking compensatory damages for malicious prosecution, the loss of income, punitive damages, as well as attorney fees. The lawsuit also highlights emotional distress and mental anguish he faced as a result of the retaliation.
Esqueda said releasing the video was the right thing to do despite the backlash. He released the following statement to CBS News Chicago:
Doing the right thing should never be an option. It should be ingrained in every officer who wears the badge.
I have been asked by so many people, "If you knew then that they would do this to you, would you have still released the video?"
I would not change what was God's purpose for me. He knows the truth…
My family and I have been through so much during the four plus years of retaliation, with the false charges by the former Joliet Police Department command staff and malicious prosecution by the Kendall County States Attorneys Office.
Integrity is everything and I proved that to the Citizens of Joliet that I swore to protect. Without compassion and integrity, you have no business in Law Enforcement.
The death of Lurry, and the community's outrage, led to an investigation by the Illinois Attorney General's office—which determined the Joliet Police Department has a pattern of using excessive force.
A lawsuit later filed by Lurry's family said two officers tried to retrieve bags containing drugs from his mouth, and in doing so, pinched his nose shut for nearly two minutes—suffocating him.