Man Charged in Beating of Chicago Police Sergeant

A south suburban man has been charged in the beating of an off-duty Chicago police sergeant who allegedly provoked the fight when he made a racist remark in an elevator in a downtown parking garage last month, the Sun-Times is reporting.

Joseph E. Baskins, 28, of Country Club Hills, is charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in connection with the Oct. 30 incident, according to a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He was released in lieu of a $25,000 bail on Wednesday, sheriff’s officials said.

Baskins is accused of striking the sergeant repeatedly, causing major head injuries. He allegedly fled with the sergeant’s handgun — the reason for the gun-possession charge against him.

In 2009, Baskins was convicted of burglary and sentenced to three years in prison. He was also convicted of resisting a peace officer in 2003, telephone harassment in 2009 and violating an order of protection in 2010, court records show.

According to authorities, the officers and sergeant had visited the city Law Department on the morning of Oct. 30 for a meeting about a pending civil-rights lawsuit filed against them in federal court.

They were returning to their car in a Loop parking garage at about 3 p.m. when they got on an elevator with at least four other people, authorities said.

The sergeant made a racist comment — “We got on the n – - – - – elevator” — according to Max Solomon, an attorney for Brian Williams, one of the men in the other group.

“Words were exchanged,” said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Baskins was planning to get married at City Hall that afternoon when the confrontation happened in the elevator. He and a group of friends followed the sergeant into the parking lot. Then Baskins, who is African-American, punched the sergeant, who is white, authorities said.

During the fight, the sergeant was on the ground and pulled his gun. Williams kicked the gun away. Baskins picked up the gun and fled, witnesses said.

Baskins was trying to prevent the sergeant from firing his weapon, Solomon said, noting that he doesn’t represent him legally.

The officers and the sergeant never identified themselves as cops, he said.

The sergeant was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition. He has been released from the hospital.

The other two officers — Marc Jarocki and Michael Kelly — have been stripped of their arrest powers and placed on desk duty pending an internal police investigation. The sergeant had not been stripped of his police powers as of Friday afternoon, a source said.