Two Cook County sheriff’s deputies were detained by a judge’s order while on court duty and forced to apologize before they were released.
On Wednesday, the deputies were on court duty at the Leighton Criminal Court Building at 26th and California, when Judge John Lyke ordered them taken into custody for criminal contempt after the officers refused to let a man charged with murder hug his family members.
The deputies were not free to leave for about 30 to 45 minutes, which they spent in the sheriff’s office behind the courtroom, before they were summoned back before the judge. The sheriff’s office said the judge told them what they said next would determine whether he had them arrested for contempt of court or not, and so the deputies apologized, saying they weren’t aware of Judge Lyke’s rules that allow brief hugs between defendants and family members…