Man body-slammed by CPD officer held on $100,000 bail for latest charges
Bernard Kersh | Chicago police
CHICAGO - 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.