Sherrie Blackburn Urged Sgt. Esqueda To Investigate His 2 Officers' Role In Eric Lurry's Death: Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — Retired Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda's 206-page federal lawsuit against the city of Joliet includes the revelation that he probably never would have become a nationally recognized police whistleblower if not for the actions of current Joliet police deputy chief Sherrie Blackburn.

Blackburn, like Esqueda, was a fellow field training sergeant when 37-year-old Joliet resident Eric Lurry died in late January 2020 at St. Joe's hospital, hours after being in Joliet police custody. The next day, Joliet Police Lt. Chris Botzum issued a press release advising the news media "only that Eric Lurry swallowed a bag of cocaine while in custody and that Mr. Lurry later died at AMITA Health St. Joseph Medical Center," the lawsuit noted.

In contrast, the lawsuit pointed out, the "autopsy report reveals cause of Lurry's death also includes asphyxia. On or about Jan. 28, 2020, Mr. Lurry died from a mixed overdose from cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and asphyxia."

Meanwhile, in early 2020, Sgt. Esqueda was largely in the dark, totally uninformed about the sequence of events surrounding Lurry's death.

It was not until two months after Lurry's death when Esqueda, as a field training sergeant, was approached by Sgt. Blackburn, "who notified plaintiff of an incident involving his assigned field training officer Jose Tellez and recruit officer Andrew McCue.

"Blackburn stated to plaintiff that the incidents depicted in the video were very disturbing and that to date, there had been no internal investigations on the conduct of the officers, including plaintiff's assigned field training officer, Tellez, and recruit officer Andrew McCue," the lawsuit revealed.

Dawn Malec Watches Eric Lurry Video With Javier Esqueda In Watch Commander's Office

According to his lawsuit, Esqueda, on his first day back to work after his discussion with Blackburn, reviewed the Daily Observation Report — commonly called a DOR —for the week of January 28, 2020, that was written by his assigned field training officer Tellez.

A copy of that report, now labeled as a federal lawsuit exhibit, is shared at the bottom of this Joliet Patch story.

"The DOR for January 28, 2020, was intentionally vague and lacked any details that would have alerted plaintiff to anything out of the ordinary," Esqueda's lawsuit revealed.

After Esqueda's initial conversation with her, "Blackburn made additional inquiries as to whether plaintiff had viewed the video involving plaintiff's assigned FTO Tellez and recruit officer McCue," the lawsuit noted.

At that point, Esqueda again reviewed the Daily Observation Report written by Officer Tellez regarding the incident Sgt. Blackburn referenced.

"As demonstrated in the Jan. 28, 2020, Daily Observation Report, attached as (lawsuit) Exhibit 2, there was nothing in that DOR that would have alerted plaintiff to anything out of the ordinary," his lawsuit reflected.

Two months passed. Then, on May 30, 2020, Esqueda was seated in the Watch Commander's Office at the Joliet Police Department reviewing various Daily Observation Reports and Lt. Dawn Malec was seated directly behind him. According to his lawsuit, Esqueda decided to log into the police department's Watchguard System "which he was permitted to do ... to watch the squad video of the January 28, 2020 incident involving" Tellez and McCue.

"As plaintiff watched the Lurry video along with Lt. Malec, plaintiff was shocked by what he and Lt. Malec witnessed," his lawsuit reflected. "Plaintiff believed that he and Lt. Malec had just witnessed police misconduct in the Lurry video. Plaintiff turned to Lt. Malec, who then stated to the plaintiff that she had heard rumors about the Lurry video but had not seen the video until now."

Captain Larson Told Sgt. Esqueda "Don't Say Another Word"

Between May 30 and June 10, 2020, Esqueda noted in his lawsuit, "he came to realize that the police misconduct that he had witnessed on the Lurry video was never going to be properly investigated by the JPD and was going to be buried from the public. On June 10, 2020, plaintiff copied the Lurry video after logging in to his squad computer, again, which he was permitted to do pursuant to General Order ... from three different angles from the JPD Watchguard System."

Two days later, June 12, 2020, Joliet Police Capt. Jeff Albert advised him that Capt. Bruce Larson wanted to see him in his office.

"Captain Larson advised plaintiff that he wanted an interoffice memorandum explaining why plaintiff had watched a 'flagged video.' Larson explained to Sgt. Esqueda that the order came from deputy chief Joe Rosado. After leaving Larson's office, Esqueda encountered both Sgt. Blackburn and Sgt. Carlos Matlock and "both advised plaintiff to return to Captain Larson and as the field training officer to Officer Tellez and Recruit Officer McCue, describe the disturbing events depicted on the Lurry video," the lawsuit revealed.

Upon his return to the captain's office, Esqueda relayed to Larson, "you are my superior and in charge of the field training program and I need to tell you what I observed on the video and ... Captain Larson immediately cut off plaintiff from his description of the events, telling plaintiff 'to shut the f*** up. Don't say another word and type the interoffice memorandum and to make it short and brief,'" Esqueda's lawsuit revealed.

Darrell Gavin Showed Doctored Clip Of Eric Lurry Video: Lawsuit Reveals

That day, June 12, 2020, Esqueda complied with the request "and handed it directly to Captain Larson," the lawsuit indicated.

Then, on July 1, 2020, Esqueda indicated in his lawsuit, he learned Police Chief Al Roechner, Deputy Chief Darrell Gavin and City Councilwoman Bettye Gavin "held a closed conference with a select number of pastors from the Joliet area, along with several hand-selected reporters wherein they showed the group a doctored clip of the Eric Lurry video with the audio muted ... at the above-referenced closed conference, Deputy Chief Gavin addressed the audience and misled the gathering regarding the true nature of Sgt. (Doug) May's use of force against Mr. Lurry."

That same day, Esqueda spoke with former Will County State's Attorney Jeff Tomczak, who put him in touch with CBS Channel 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini "at which time plaintiff produced a copy of the Lurry video revealing the police misconduct towards Mr. Lurry that preceded his death."

Officer Jose Tellez's False Police Report Was Not Supplemented Until Weeks After: Esqueda

The following day, July 2, 2020, Esqueda "was further convinced that he had taken appropriate measures when Will County State's Attorney Glasgow released a letter to the Will-Grundy County Task Force stating explicitly that the Joliet police officers involved in the death of Mr. Lurry did nothing wrong."

On page 14 of his 206-page lawsuit, Esqueda revealed that on Jan. 28, 2020, during the incident, "just after he heard and saw Sgt. May strike Mr. Lurry while in the parking lot of the Joliet police station and while Mr. Lurry was still handcuffed and seated in the rear of Officer McCue's squad car, Officer Tellez intentionally turned off the squad car's audio recording capabilities."

The lawsuit further adds that, "in turning off the squad car's recording capabilities, Officer Tellez and or Officer McCue violated Joliet Police Department's policies. On or about January 28, 2020, after Mr. Lurry was transported to the hospital, Officer Tellez drafted a Daily Operating Report which gave a false narrative of the events of January 28, 2020... Officer Tellez's false report was not supplemented until weeks after the incident to include a more accurate statement of the events."

More Joliet Patch coverage:

• Joliet Police Sergeant Files Federal Lawsuit: Ex-Police Chief Roechner, Egizio, Reid, Rosado Defendants
• Joliet Officer Turned Off Car's Video System As Eric Lurry Died
• Eric Lurry Lawsuit: Joliet Wants To Settle Case After 5 Years Of Federal Litigation
• Joliet Police Whistleblower Charged With Misconduct In Lurry Case
• Joliet's Missing Eric Lurry Video 'Did Have Evidentiary Value'
• 'Batman Don't Plead Guilty': Joliet Police Whistleblower Vindicated