There is only ONE road back to a respected police force.

[ColesCountyDem]

53. A change in the laws would help a GREAT deal.

There was an arrest-related death in our county in July of 2013. A village police officer attempted to effect an arrest of a gentleman involved in a neighborhood dispute, and, after a struggle, succeeded in doing so; however, witnesses told other responding officers (one State Trooper, the Sheriff and one Deputy Sheriff) that the village officer had continued to beat and kick the suspect AFTER he had been restrained. The suspect was badly injured, and suffering from head trauma caused by a kick ( s ) to the head. Now, hold your breaths....

The Sheriff arrested the village police officer! He was initially charged with official misconduct (a very serious felony), aggravated battery and attempted murder. He was held in jail on a cash bond of $500,000. When the suspect he battered died 5 days later, the attempted murder charge was dismissed, and he was charged murder.

An examination of his employment history revealed that he had been 'allowed to resign' from at least 2 other departments, due to allegations of excessive use of force, and a court-ordered psych evaluation determined that he was mentally ill and also suffered from anger and impulse-control issues.

Just last month, the officer was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 7 years in prison, of which he will have to serve 6, followed by 7 years of parole. The reason he was allowed to plead guilty to the reduced charge was that under Illinois' law regarding the use of deadly force by a police officer, is that it would have been unlikely that he could have been convicted at trial of murder.

Our State's Attorney (and others) are lobbying the Legislature to re-write the law on the use of deadly force, and are using this case as 'Exhibit A' in their campaign.