Over a year after a Black man died in police custody, Illinois city opens investigation into police department

An Illinois city is launching an investigation into its police department following the death of a Black man in police custody last year, CBS station WBBM-TV reports. City leaders in Joliet, a Chicago suburb, agreed to hire a private attorney to conduct the independent investigation more than a year after the death of Eric Lurry, the station reported Tuesday.

Lurry, 37, was taken into custody during a drug arrest in January 2020. The county coroner's office called his death an accidental drug overdose, and local prosecutors said his death wasn't the result of officers' actions. In video footage from a squad car camera obtained by WBBM-TV, a Joliet police sergeant, identified by the station as Doug May, is seen slapping Lurry's face while he was handcuffed in the back seat of the car. "Wake up, bitch," May says.