(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — More than a year and a half following the death of Eric Lurry in police custody, the Illinois attorney general announced he has opened a civil investigation into the Joliet Police Department.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he’s opening the investigation at the request of the Joliet mayor and city council.
Lurry’s death prompted the review, but Raoul stressed it’s not a criminal investigation.
Raoul said if his investigators find systemic patterns, they will work with the city and new police chief, who was appointed earlier this year.
A whistleblower in the police department alerted the city to video of Lurry in the back of a police vehicle in January 2020. He died of a fentanyl overdose.
His widow is suing the police department for negligence.