The CBS 2 investigators found out that a Chicago police officer involved in a violent jail beating had a scary past.
The officer, Jerald Williams, has been involved in several violent incidents that have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and counting, including the beating. Charlie De Mar of CBS 2 reported on Thursday that Williams is still a member of the Chicago Police Department and that he was recently promoted to sergeant.
This week, we showed you the video for the first time. It was recorded in May 2019 at 2255 E. 103rd St., the South Chicago (4th) District police station. In the video, police officers punch Damien Stewart in the head over and over again after they arrest him for having a gun without a permit.
Stewart put the video online this week and wants the officers involved, including Williams, who is wearing green, to be fired and put in jail.
For beating Stewart, the city gave him a $45,000 settlement.
“You see the video – I mean, they just struck me,” Stewart said earlier this week. “I don’t know why they struck me. I didn’t say anything or make no aggressive movements.”
Williams was the focus of a separate investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability because of a viral video showing him throwing Bernard Kersh to the ground.
- Check out this section of our homepage to read more news headlines-
That happened on Thanksgiving Day, 2019, at the corner of 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Williams said that Kersh spat at him and licked his face.
Williams is trained in mixed martial arts and is known as “Bacon and Eggs” in the ring.
“He picked me off my feet and slammed me head-first into the concrete,” Kersh said in an interview with CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini weeks after the Thanksgiving 2019 incident. “I could have been killed.”.
In a civil case, Kersh is represented by attorney Andrew M. Stroth.
“I don’t understand why the city is paying taxpayer money supporting an officer who has a pattern and history of using excessive and almost lethal force against Mr. Kersh – and then this most recent incident” Stroth said.
Williams was also one of the 16 police officers who raided the wrong house in 2019. They pointed their guns at a family and searched the house while a child’s birthday party was going on.
The city eventually paid out settlements for the jail beating and the birthday raid, totaling close to $400,000. The trial for the body slam case is set for this summer.
CBS 2 also knew Williams was suspended for 15 days in November 2021. Enrique Delgado Fernandez, the other officer in the 4th District lockup video, was suspended for 10 days in April 2022 after the disciplinary grievance process.