The city of Chicago on Friday was ordered to pay $100,000 to cover fees for lawyers for a man with schizophrenia who was body-slammed by a city police officer in 2019, after a judge found the city failed to turn over records that showed then-police Supt. David Brown agreed the officer had used “massively” excessive force.
The six-figure payment is to cover the cost of lawyers for Bernard Kersh to conduct a second round of depositions with witnesses after learning that Brown and the city’s police oversight agency decided Officer Jerald Williams’ use of force violated department standards.
The sum, awarded as a sanction against the city by Cook County Judge Gerald Cleary, is less than the $122,000 requested by Kersh’s lawyers. The case is set to go to trial June 16. Kersh’s lawsuit says he suffered a brain injury and was blinded in one eye after his head struck a curb.
“We have yet another situation where Chicago taxpayers are paying for the city’s failure to follow standard discovery procedures,” Kersh’s attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, said Friday. “We are preparing to go to trial ... and taxpayers will also be responsible for a verdict at trial.”
A spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A 2019 investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability ruled that Williams used “massively excessive force” and recommended a 45-day suspension for the officer. In a letter, Brown agreed with the finding but recommended a 135-day suspension, which was upheld by the city Police Board.
Williams, who has been promoted to sergeant during the years since the incident, has challenged the suspension and has yet to serve a day of the punishment while a labor grievance is pending.
City attorneys, citing expert witnesses hired to analyze video of the incident, have for years argued that Williams use of amixed martial arts-style body slam was justified after Kersh allegedly spit on police officers who had approached him for drinking a bottle of vodka at a bus stop in East Chatham.
The Police Board last month voted in favor of a 90-day suspension for Officer Mark Johnson, who placed Kersh in the back of his police vehicle without waiting for medics to examine Kersh for injuries.
Kersh’s lawyers said they only learned of the disciplinary action and final reports about the incident, as well as a letter in which Brown agreed with the findings, when they saw a news report that said Williams and another officer involved in the incident had been disciplined.
A study last year by the Better Government Association found that over the last decade, the city has paid out an average of $93 million in settlements and judgments in police misconduct cases.
