No Charges Expected To Be Filed Against Joliet Mayor

The Illinois State Police investigation into Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk’s scuffle with two Black Lives Matter protesters last year will not face any charges. Mayor O’Dekirk was initially there earlier in the day to honor  the memory of George Floyd and take a knee with protesters for nine minutes at Jefferson and Larkin. But during that peaceful protest, O’Dekirk says it turned into a riot with rocks and bottles being thrown. The mayor says he doesn’t regret being there that night because initially his role was to “work with the protesters and trying and stop the violence from happening.”

A video surfaced last year showing police dispersing a crowd of demonstrators who had gathered along Jefferson Street in Joliet on May 31, 2020. O’Dekirk appears to grab Victor Williams Jr. by the collar and forcibly walk him backward to a police vehicle. Williams’ brother then appears to jump on O’Dekirk, causing all three to fall to the ground. They were then quickly surrounded by police.

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