Residents press Joliet council on policing after Molito death; council approves rifle upgrades, committee reviews mental-health grant

Several residents and community advocates used the May 6 public-comment period to press the City Council on police training, transparency and crisis response following a recent death discussed at the meeting; separately, the council approved new rifles for the Police Department's Special Operations Squad and the Public Safety Committee reported a pending Will County mental-health grant.

“My brother-in-law, David Molito, called 911 for help. He begged for help. He begged not to be killed,” Chelsea Dean said during the public-comment period. “The Joliet Police Department did not handle the situation that ultimately ended with a tragic loss of his life.”

Chelsea Dean and other speakers — including Nicole Lurie, who identified herself as the widow of Eric Lurie; Tom Casper of the Nonviolence City Project; and resident Carl Feral — urged the council to adopt the Illinois Attorney General's recommendations and to improve crisis-response training for officers, increase transparency about body-camera footage and take action to prevent future fatalities. Carl Feral cited the AG office's findings and described concerns about use-of-force, repeated taser deployments and inadequate crisis intervention in the Joliet Police Department, as summarized in the AG report he referenced.

“We will not stop fighting for justice,” Chelsea Dean said. Nicole Lurie said the recommendations from the attorney general's three-year investigation should be implemented and that families need better responses to crises.

At the dais, the Public Safety Committee reported that Deputy Chief Carlos Matlock had presented a request to upgrade and exchange two rifles for the Joliet Police Department's Special Operations Squad; the rifles were described as more than 20 years old. The rifle upgrade item (council memo number 285-25) was on the council agenda and the council voted to approve the purchase, recorded on the meeting minutes.

The committee report also noted a Will County Community Mental Health Board grant award of $200,000 to fund the city's community mental-health program; committee members thanked Fire Chief Carrie for work on the grant. The committee indicated action on the grant would come before the full council at a later meeting.

Several speakers raised concerns about the timing and release of body-camera video in the case discussed; a commenter said body-camera footage released to the public was made available after the 90-day retention period for police evidence in state law and asked why the family was not shown the footage first. Those claims were presented by members of the public and attributed in this article to their speakers; council members did not make a formal vote or policy change on body-camera release during the May 6 meeting.

Council action at the meeting included approval of the rifle upgrade and routine consent items. The Public Safety Committee's report and the public comments together signaled continued community concern; several speakers called for the council to act on the AG report recommendations, strengthen crisis-intervention training and ensure greater transparency in police investigations.