Man charged after controversial video shows him apparently being body-slammed by Chicago police
A bystander took video of a Chicago police officer as he hurled a 29-year-old man to the ground for allegedly spitting on him during an arrest Nov. 28, 2019.
The 29-year-old man who appeared to be body-slammed by a Chicago police officer Thursday in a controversial video captured by a passerby is facing multiple charges, including aggravated battery to an officer, police said.
Bernard Kersh, of the South Chicago neighborhood, was the subject of a video that Mayor Lori Lightfoot called “very disturbing.” It showed him being slammed to the ground by an officer at about 4 p.m. Thursday in the 700 block of East 79th Street in the Chatham neighborhood after he was stopped for drinking alcohol in public, police said.
Police said Kersh had spit on and threatened one of the officers.
In addition to the felony charge, he is also facing misdemeanor charges of resisting an officer, simple assault and drinking alcohol in public, police said. Kersh, of the 8000 block of South Kingston Avenue, was expected to appear in bond court on Sunday.
Bernard Kersh, 29, of the 8000 block of South Kingston Avenue, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a peace officer and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, assault, and drinking alcohol on the public way. (Chicago police)
He was treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center after the incident and released into police custody “sometime overnight,” Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday morning.
The officer was “relieved of police powers" pending an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, Guglielmi tweeted later Friday night. Guglielmi said COPA asked for the officer to be relieved of powers pending review of the incident, and Chicago police “concurred.”
“It is my expectation that the investigation will be comprehensive and expedited so that the public may gain a complete picture of what happened,” Lightfoot said in a tweet.
“While a single video does not depict the entirety of the interactions between the police and the individual, this particular video is very disturbing,” she added.
pfry@chicagotribune.com
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