Man body slammed by cop sues CPD, officer

As Bernard Kersh sat in the Cook County Jail Thursday, attorneys for the 29-year-old filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago and the police officer who slammed Kersh to the ground during a Thanksgiving Day arrest.

Lawyers for Kersh blamed a history of poor training and biased policing for the head trauma and other injuries their client suffered when Officer Jerald Williams violently threw him down, using a move taken from his training as a mixed-martial artist.

Kersh spent a week in jail before posting bond for allegedly spitting on Williams. Kersh, who has a history of mental illness, was arrested again and back in jail in January after he allegedly attempted to push past a South Loop Jewel-Osco security guard without paying for a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of tequila.

In a phone interview Thursday, Kersh’s lawyer, Andrew M. Stroth, said he still is trying to raise money to post 10% of Kersh’s $100,000 bail, so he can get treatment for injuries.

“He’s had major head trauma, he has in an injury to his shoulder that needs surgery, he has an eye injury... all from the bodyslam by Officer Williams,” Stroth said.

Williams had approached Kersh after allegedly spotting him drinking from a bottle of vodka at a South Side bus stop on Nov. 28. Video filmed by a bystander showed Williams lifting Kersh up and body-slamming Kersh down. Kersh struck his head on the curb, then was seen lying limp as Williams wipes his face. Body camera footage released by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability shows officers standing over the unconscious Kersh, apparently warning Williams not to wipe Kersh’s saliva into his eyes.

Williams and another officer who responded have since been stripped of their police powers as the COPA investigates the use of force.

Kersh’s lawsuit includes still frames from surveillance footage, as well as from a YouTube video of Williams using a similar bodyslam against an opponent in a mixed-martial arts fight.