Chicago DUI lawyer comments on DUI suspect's jail beating

There isn't much to say here. The woman in the clip was arrested on charges of DUI. After she was processed and placed in a cell she is clearly struck by law enforcement officers.

July 24, Peoria, Il

What in the world does it take to get fired as an employee of Tazewell County?

It's a fair question after viewing the videotape of two Tazewell jailers beating up a 40-something female arrested on DUI charges last October, and after reading of the Merit Commission's unanimous decision to let them get away with it without penalty.

"The worst use of force ... we've had in my 10 years as sheriff," Huston characterized it, which is saying something in Tazewell. Arguably it's every bit as unsettling as what we saw with the "subduing" last year of a 33-year-old Peoria man by city police officers after he'd led them on a vehicle chase. Captured on tape by a squad car's dashboard camera, the incident resulted in the criminal indictment of three Peoria officers, now awaiting trial.

Yet the Tazewell Merit Commission - comprised of Chairman Gerald Wise, Lloyd Orrick, Harvey Richmond, Solie Myers and Donald Sharpe - unanimously reinstated the suspended officers with full back pay.

We're told there's more to the tape and more context to the episode than we've seen, though we'd suggest the important parts are covered and speak, damningly, for themselves. There's no audio, though we can't imagine anything Behm could have said that would justify such treatment. Ours is no defense of her, though we suspect drunk and belligerent, as she was described, are not exactly foreign adjectives at any jail. Police are human and lose their temper, though it's not unreasonable to expect more restrained, professional conduct. At the beginning this case was referred by Tazewell County State's Attorney Stu Umholtz to a special prosecutor for possible criminal charges, but ultimately a grand jury decided not to indict.

So now it looks like we can't expect law enforcement to recognize their special role. It's their role to diffuse a situation and that requires special training and aptitude. I don't know what this woman said, but no words justify their actions. The full video clip is below. It's about 30 minutes and it isn't for the faint of heart.

Jail beating footage (FULL) from Journal Star on Vimeo.