A schizophrenic man who was hospitalized after being slammed to the ground by police last year is facing new charges stemming from an arrest for allegedly shoving a security guard while trying to leave with a bottle of tequila and a bouquet of flowers from a South Loop supermarket.
Bernard Kersh, 29, was ordered held on a $100,000 bail Monday in connection to a theft at the Jewel at Roosevelt and Wabash, Chicago police said.
Kersh was arrested Jan. 23 after allegedly walking out with the flowers and a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila, according to police and court records. When a security guard tried to stop him, he allegedly shoved her in the chest. Kersh was arrested a few blocks away.
The arrest violated conditions of Kersh’s bond for his November arrest involving the police officer, and he has been held in jail under a no-bail order since.
On Thanksgiving, officers approached Kersh as he was drinking from a bottle of vodka while sitting at a bus stop at 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, police said. Kersh became “irate” and spit in one of the officer’s eyes and mouth. That officer was then seen on cellphone video picking up Kersh and throwing him to the ground.
The officer and another who responded have since been stripped of their police powers as the Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigates the use of force.
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Kersh was released in December on $5,000 after being charged with aggravated battery for spitting at and threatening a police officer after being approached at a bus stop on suspicion of public drinking.
A 41-second video posted online by a bystander starts with the officer lifting Kersh high off his feet, then slamming his body hard onto the pavement. The back of Kersh’s head appears to strike the curb and he then lies motionless.
Defense attorney Sami Azhari says community members put up the $500 to pay his initial bail, adding Kersh has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Kersh was convicted in 2018 of spitting on a police officer and in 2011 for punching an officer.
