Sgt. Javier Esqueda, Joliet police sergeant who blew whistle on Eric Lurry's death in custody, talks about retaliation he says he's faced

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) -- Video surrounding the death of Eric Lurry while handcuffed in the back of a Joliet police officer was revealed two years ago by a whistleblower – who also happened to be a Joliet police sergeant in charge of training.

Sgt. Javier Esqueda first blew the whistle to CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini – who recently sat down for another exclusive interview with Esqueda about the retaliation the sergeant says he's had to face.

Esqueda is also now retiring from the department.

"I was a good cop while I was there, but became the whistleblower to reveal something horrific," Sgt. Esqueda said.

Two years after blowing the whistle on his own department, Esqueda is calling it quits. He is retiring, and he never wants to wear the badge in Joliet again.

"I never ever fit in to that culture because I was different," he said.

Esqueda is the one who decided to make video from a Joliet police squad car public - detailing some of the final moments of the 37-year-old Lurry's life in January 2020.

Lurry's hands were cuffed behind his back despite a piece of plastic still in his mouth - possibly a baggy of drugs, says Esqueda.

Lurry was having a medical emergency - but officers did not call for an immediate ambulance. Instead, the video shows when officers arrive at the police station, an officer is seen on video slapping Lurry and saying, "Hey, wake up, bitch, let's get it over." Afterward, the video shows the officer held his nose shut.

"The hardest part of watching that video was seeing another fellow sergeant slap him and calling him bitch on that video - then going straight for his nose cutting off his airway," Esqueda told Savini in July 2020.

Lurry's nose was held shut for one minute and 38 seconds. He was pronounced dead later a hospital, and the video was covered up for five months until Esqueda - a training officer at the time - discovered it. 

"You're going to suffocate," Esqueda told Savini in their new interview. "They were so fixated on just wanting to get the drugs to charge the man - they didn't think about his wellbeing."

Savini asked Esqueda what he feels when he thinks about the way Lurry died.

"It's hard to think about that," Lurry said. "It haunts me to this day."

Savini: "None of these officers were disciplined at all until you blew the whistle?"

Esqueda: "That's correct. They were going to sweep it under rug."

It wasn't until after Esqueda came forward to the CBS 2 Investigators that any of the officers involved received minor discipline.

Savini: "Do you think this video would have been destroyed had you not come forward?"

Esqueda: "Oh, there's no doubt in my mind it would have been destroyed."

One officer turned off the audio function of the recording shortly after the slap - so you can't hear what was said next. Another camera angle that might have captured what happened outside the squad was also allegedly destroyed.

Yet it was Sgt. Esqueda who had is badge and gun taken away, put on desk duty, and then arrested for his role in making this video public.

Savini: "The officers you blew the whistle on are still on the force."

Esqueda: "Yes, they are."

Savini: "And you're the one who's facing the felony charges."

Esqueda: "Yes. That's a hard pill to swallow. And I think about that every day."

Savini: "What does that say about the Joliet Police Department?"

Esqueda: "Well, what it says about the former administration - that you can kill a man and get away with it. It tells the citizens of Joliet to be careful - because if they can get away with killing a man, that could happen to them?"

Esqueda says the Joliet Police Department wanted him charged so badly, they went outside of Will County to another county - Kendall County - and had prosecutors there pursue felony official misconduct charges against him.

"What do you think that that says to other officers, and me being charged in Illinois?" Esqueda said. "'Hey, if you come forward with the truth with something tragic like this. Guess what, buddy - go ahead and run your mouth, because what's going to happen is they're going to fire you, or take your badge and your gun. They're going to charge you with felonies that aren't even real. They're going to lie - do anything to discredit you. So why should you come forward?'"

Since he came forward in 2020, multiple Joliet police chiefs have retired - and there is now a new chief. That new chief, William Evans, sent Esqueda a letter when he learned the sergeant had decided to retire this month.

Despite the pending criminal charges against Esqueda, Chief Evans wrote to him: "You should be proud of the 28 years you have unselfishly given to the citizens of Joliet. On behalf of the Joliet Police Department, I extend our very best wishes in your retirement."

The glowing thank-you is hard for Esqueda to comprehend - considering police and prosecutors are still going after him for speaking out. His felony trial is set for November.

Savini: "Do you have any regrets about blowing the whistle?"

Esqueda: "Still no regrets. I would never change a thing that I did. It was the right thing to do; the honest thing to do. Had I not come forward, they would have never have told the family. They would have hid this."

Esqueda was honored with the first ever Moral Courage Award by The Lamplighter Project – a national organization that encourages officers to report corruption without fear of retaliation.

The Will County Coroner determined that Lurry's death was due to a drug overdose.

Meanwhile, Lurry's wife, Nicole, is pursuing a federal police misconduct lawsuit against the officers and the Joliet Police Department.

The Illinois Attorney General's office is also investigating Joliet PD for its policing practices.

Esqueda retires on Wednesday.