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…