Former Chicago Police Officer Eric Elkins Charged In Brutal Beating
CHICAGO (CBS) -- John Sherwood and his partner Thomas Stacha suffered serious injuries in and outside @mosphere, a bar in the 5300 block of N. Clark St., in 2018.
"I had my leg broken within 30 seconds," Sherwood said. "Punched, kicked in the head.
Police body cam footage shows them taken to a hospital and screams of pain.
"I was going into shock right away," Sherwood said.
The alleged assailants are Giovanni Rodriguez and former Chicago Police Sgt. Eric Elkins. Both are now charged with felony assault.
At the time of the attack, Elkins was a patron at the bar and was off duty. He had nearly 20 years on the job.
"There's bad apples at every police department including the Chicago Police Department," said attorney Tim Cavanagh, who is representing the victims. "And we know Sgt. Elkins was a criminal."
Records show he had 35 citizen complaints during his time as an officer. Those complaints were not sustained by IPRA or COPA. In 2003 while working as a Chicago high school security guard, he was charged with sexually assaulting a student but acquitted. In 2016 he was again charged with sexually assaulting a minor. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
"The Chicago police knew about that and never fired him," Cavanagh said.
A police spokesman told CBS 2, "Misdemeanor charges are not grounds for automatic termination."
Elkins eventually resigned from the police department.
He's now facing serious charges.
"It's reliving this all over again, and it's pretty nerve-wracking, but I am happy this is finally moving forward," Sherwood said.
Sherwood and his partner have filed a lawsuit against former Sgt. Elkins and others.
Elkins' attorney, Joel Brodsky released the following statement regarding the issue:
Eric Elkins has been accused of a crime and nothing more. Every person who has ever been wrongfully convicted started out by being wrongfully accused. People should not speculate and jump to conclusions. Cases should be decided based on the facts; and not what you'd like the facts to be, but what the facts actually are. That means waiting for the trial, and until then giving the accused person the presumption of innocence. That's the American system. If you don't like the American system, you can always move to North Korea and let the Dear Leader tell you what facts are.
The facts that will come out at trial will be very different from what you are hearing now. Much of what you are hearing comes from people who have a financial motivation to "spin" the story a particular way.
Even the grand jury was not presented with witnesses who clear Mr. Elkins of any wrong doing. While people have a First Amendment right to spin a story, and while the State is not required, at least in Illinois, to present unfavorable witnesses to the grand jury, Mr. Elkins trusts that the public knows they are not getting the full story. All Mr. Elkins asks is that people reserve judgment until after everything has been presented at a fair trial.
Until the trial neither Mr. Elkins nor his attorneys will have any further comment.
