For nearly four years, lawyers for the city have maintained in court that Officer Jerald Williams did nothing wrong when he body-slammed a 32-year-old schizophrenic man who spit on the officer during a 2019 encounter.
But the city didn’t turn over documents that showed the Civilian Office of Police Accountabilty and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown agreed Williams’s use of force against Bernard Kersh was “massively excessive”— and that another officer involved in Kersh’s arrest is facing firing for his conduct, according to an emergency motion filed this week by Kersh’s lawyers..
After a brief emergency hearing Friday, Cook County Judge Gerald Cleary ordered an evidentiary hearing on the allegations, and potential sanctions against the city. The city Law Department declined comment Friday, citing the pending litigation.
