A man who was being held at the Cook County Jail died after a confrontation with correctional officers in which he was repeatedly struck, thrown to the ground and injected with sedatives, records show.
Cory Ulmer, 41, was described in an internal report by the sergeant in charge during the incident as being “combative” and disobeying his jailers’ orders. At one point, Ulmer managed to “head butt” the sergeant, the report says.
According to his lawyer, Ulmer was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had a history of manic episodes.
Ulmer was handcuffed, with his hands in front of his body, and was sedated by a jail nurse shortly before he died, according to the report.
Robert Robinson, Ulmer’s stepfather, says two investigators from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office visited the family June 22 to notify them of the death but offered him no details.
“They said he got locked up, and he went to the hospital, and unfortunately he didn’t make it — that’s all he told me,” Robinson says.
Under a two-year-old state law, the sheriff’s office is required to notify families when people die in the agency’s custody “as soon as possible in a suitable manner giving an accurate factual account of the cause of death and circumstances surrounding the death.”
Contacted by Injustice Watch on Monday — two days before the news organization obtained the sergeant’s report — Dart’s spokesman said Ulmer “suffered a medical emergency” and later was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital.
On Thursday, he declined to provide details about Ulmer’s death, citing an ongoing investigation, but confirmed that 11 jail employees have been reassigned until the investigation is complete.
“Nothing in our initial response to you was inaccurate,” the spokesman says. “Mr. Ulmer died after suffering a medical emergency.”
Dart declined an interview request.
Jesse Guth, an attorney and former county prosecutor retained by Ulmer’s family, says the family is “shocked and outraged” by his death.
“Cory’s family and the people of Cook County deserve no less than the full truth,” Guth says. “He was a son, a brother, a nephew and a cousin. He deserves to be more than a statistic. He deserves justice.”
Ulmer was jailed June 20 for violating the terms of his pretrial release. Prosecutors had charged him in January 2023 with aggravated assault and armed robbery, and he was released on electronic monitoring, pending trial, after pleading not guilty. According to Dart’s spokesperson, Ulmer allegedly refused to return to his approved host site, which landed him back in jail.
Jonathan S. Goldman, a lawyer representing Ulmer in that case, says Ulmer was having a bipolar episode at a bus stop and wielded a pocket knife.
“He was a nice guy in a tight spot, and I felt for him,” Goldman says.
Ulmer’s stepfather says he last spoke with Ulmer on June 26, the day before he was arrested.
“Listen, he was fine when I talked to him,” Robinson says. “He was at his apartment, and he was talking to me about, you know, just life and that he wanted to get off that monitor so he could go out and seek out a job. He wasn’t delusional or anything. I don’t know what happened.”
The document obtained by Injustice Watch is an incident report written by correctional Sgt. Enrique Reyes, who, records show, has been with the sheriff’s office for 13 years.
Reached by phone, Reyes declined to comment.
According to Reyes’ report, Ulmer — described in court documents as 6-feet-2-inches tall and 220 pounds — became combative shortly after 3 p.m. in a holding cell while awaiting transfer to the jail’s mental health wing.
Reyes wrote that Ulmer was handcuffed, with his hands in front, and dashed out of the holding cell, knocking aside an officer.
“Staff conducted an emergency take-down of IIC Ulmer who was non-compliant to verbal orders to stand up,” Reyes wrote. “Ulmer refused to comply with my verbal orders to stand up and not allowing us to help him stand up, making it difficult to escort [Ulmer] to his feet due to his size and weight.”
In his report, Reyes says he and several officers had to “re-adjust multiple times” in an effort to escort Ulmer to the emergency room, at one point “utilizing a 4-point carry but were unable to completely lift” Ulmer off the ground.
The sergeant wrote that, in the emergency room, Ulmer became combative again, head-butting Reyes, knocking his body camera from his chest and attempting to bite him in an arm.
Reyes wrote that he radioed for help and that officers “began utilizing strikes and pressure points to gain compliance,” but Ulmer “remained combative.”
A jail nurse arrived and injected drugs into Ulmer’s buttocks and began checking his vitals signs after officers secured him onto a transport chair, but the nurse “was unable to get vitals,” according to the report.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t determined Ulmer’s cause of death.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force says it has opened an investigation into Ulmer’s death. The sheriff’s office says it asked for that investigation.
Contributing: David Jackson
Carlos Ballesteros reports for Injustice Watch.
