A settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit involving the mayor of Joliet, the Police Department and two men who were participants in a 2020 demonstration following the death of George Floyd.

       Details of the settlement were not made public, but Michael Baker, an attorney representing one of the demonstrators, confirmed the parties had reached a settlement. He declined further comment Wednesday. Joliet Mayor Robert O’Dekirk did not return calls seeking comments nor did the city’s corporation counsel.

       The altercation, captured on video, appears to show O’Dekirk grabbing Victor Williams Jr., a Lockport man who was 23 at the time, by the collar and forcibly walking him backward to a police vehicle at a chaotic public demonstration. The May 31 demonstration was one of many protests across the country that came in the wake of Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

       In the video, Williams’ brother, Jamal Smith, a Crest Hill man who was 28 at the time, appears to then jump on the mayor from behind and then the three men are quickly surrounded by police.

       Williams and Smith filed individual lawsuits against the city and unnamed officers. O’Dekirk initially was a named defendant in Williams’ lawsuit, but the mayor was not individually later named as a defendant in an amended lawsuit that combined the two complaints into one.

       The altercation sparked division among the city and prompted a group of pastors to call for O’Dekirk’s resignation. In a news conference shortly after the altercation, O’Dekirk maintained he was acting in self=defense and that he thought his “personhood” was threatened.

       Attorneys for Williams and Smith said that Williams was simply trying to tell O’Dekirk that he was trying to go through the parking lot of a Jefferson Street strip mall to get to his sister’s car.

       O’Dekirk, a former police officer, said he felt compelled to go with Joliet police that evening to patrol the city in the hopes of defusing the protests. In the days following the skirmish, O’Dekirk said some people recognized him as the mayor and others did not.

       Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter.

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