A security video showing an altercation between a Montgomery man and an off-duty Kendall County Sheriff’s deputy on Super Bowl Sunday will be entered into evidence, and may be shown in court, a Kendall County judge decided on Wednesday.
Jason Thurmond, 38, was charged with misdemeanor battery after an incident at the on Feb. 5 that culminated in that off-duty deputy drawing his gun. Thurmond has said he returned from the aisles to find the officer arguing with his nine-months-pregnant wife, who was in tears.
Thurmond admits to shoving the officer to keep him away from his wife, he said, and that’s when the gun was pulled and pointed at Thurmond’s chest, he said. The 911 tapes from the incident reveal that the officer only announced himself as a sheriff’s deputy after drawing his weapon.
There were no shots fired, and Oswego police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and charged Thurmond with battery.
In a brief court appearance on Wednesday, county prosecutors handed over large stacks of personnel files to Thurmond’s attorney, Richard Irvin, along with seven CDs and DVDs containing footage of the incident. Irvin said this footage actually shows the altercation taking place, and may be publicly released.
Kendall County Judge Alan Cargerman agreed not to admit a second stack of records, which Irvin said would likely be personal information about the officer, and not important to his case. None of the files were made public.
Thurmond has identified the officer as Dep. Craig French, a veteran with the department who serves as the public information officer. The sheriff’s department has not confirmed that French is the officer in question, but his name appears on the Oswego Police Department report from the incident.
He remains on active duty while the sheriff’s department conducts an internal investigation. Thurmond has filed a complaint against French with the department, and has said he plans to go forward with a lawsuit.
Cargerman set Thurmond’s next court date for June 13 at 1 p.m.
http://oswego.patch.com/articles/sheriff-s-deputy-still-on-active-duty-after-walmart-incident
Mr. French, says 'What, are you guys on welfare?'" Now why would he have stated that, if he was acting in a respectful professional way? This comment was another example of him inciting a problem vs cotroling it.
As we all remember, as it is still very fresh in the public's collective memory regarding Mr. French's 2012 Super Bowl Sunday behavior in the express register aisle of the Oswego Wal-Mart. This glowing public praise of Mr. French by Sheriff Richard Randall may give the public its first clue on what has actually happened with the promised KCSD internal investigation of this scary 911 incident involving an Off-Duty and High Ranking KCSD Deputy who showed no restraint. Mr. French continues to be the Kendall County Sheriff's Department’s Media Officer.
I hope people remember this next time Sheriff Randall is up for re-election.
I wonder if Mr. French was buying his Super Bowl beer. He seems to have been in quite a hurry to check-out. Just a bit of levity there. You all have some great comments and opinions.
Should this guy have insulted the woman? No way. Does the fact that he did give the other guy legal or moral authority to attack him? No way. If any of you mouth off in public the way you do on this site and got your but kicked, you 'd be complaining to high heaven and wishing an off duty cop could have stopped it. Shame on the Patch for providing a forum that legitimizes this kind of discourse.
What ? A 9 month pregnant woman ?? Police are taught to handle pregnant women with extra care, both physically AND psychologically. Maybe Dep. French did not realize she was pregnant. I hope he was not seriously hurt when the big mean husband pushed him. Maybe Deputy French is a bit fragile in more ways than one.
"but only after establishing his or her identity as a police officer"...this happened After he pulled his weapon and pointed it.
Some people believe that an off-duty police officer not in uniform and driving an unmarked car cannot legally issue a citation, but that is not always the case. Different police departments have different policies concerning the authority of off-duty officers, but in many places an off-duty police officer does have the legal right to detain an offender until an on-duty officer arrives to finish the process. The key factor in such an action is proper identification, however. An off-duty police officer who instigates a fight or commits an illegal act has no more rights or legal protections than any other private citizen.
I wonder how the investigation is going. It was "launched" back in February.