JOLIET, Ill. — The mayor of a suburban Chicago city defended his actions Tuesday after he was captured on cellphone video grabbing a man by his neck during a protest last month in Joliet.
Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk was shown on a YouTube video posted Monday during a May 31 demonstration in the city, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. In the video, O’Dekirk, who was a police officer for 10 years in Joliet, can be seen grabbing the protester, which resulted in a scuffle, the newspaper reported.
The man was taken to the ground by Joliet police officers, and he was arrested, along with his brother, WGN-TV reported. O’Dekirk said he acted in self-defense.
“I only acted to defend myself because I felt my personhood was threatened,” O’Dekirk told WGN. “So to those who choose to be critical, please do not mischaracterize my actions as an attack, I sought to hurt no one but only preserve my only personal safety in the middle of the chaos.”
O’DeKirk said he suffered “minor bruises.”
Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said his office will be requesting an investigation by an independent third party, the Sun-Times reported.
O’Dekirk’s record as a police officer came under scrutiny after the incident. According to personnel files that were requested through the Freedom of Information Act by The Herald-News of Joliet, O’Dekirk faced seven suspensions totaling 49 days.
Further records of the disciplinary actions, or whether suspensions were actually meted out, were not in police department personnel files, Joliet Deputy Police Chief Darrell Gavin told the newspaper.
"We looked for them, but they’re not there,” Gavin said.
O’Dekirk called a Herald-News article about the personnel orders “reprehensible.”
“You got bad information,” O’Dekirk said at a news conference. “I don’t know what you were given, but it was not accurate.”
O’Dekirk admitted he had been suspended before leaving the department in 2003 but never because of excessive force, the Herald-News reported. The mayor said he was suspended for missing a court date and for writing on a desk.
Glasgow said he would ask the Illinois State Police to conduct the investigation “to avoid any potential conflicts of interest and ensure a completely transparent process."
“No final charging decision can be made until a full and independent investigation is completed,” Glasgow told the Sun-Times.
Cox Media Group
