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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Illinois Sheriff On Video Releases: Public Has Right To Know

flickr user / Michael Coghlan "Prison Bars" (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The sheriff who oversees one of the nation's most crowded jails has voluntarily released video showing half a dozen incidents of excessive force by deputies at the Cook County Jail in Chicago.

The videos show violent encounters between jailers and inmates. In one, three officers drag an inmate with blood spattered on his shirt through hallways to a cell.

Another shows an officer throwing a punch during a take-down of an inmate.

Thirteen officers were disciplined over the incidents.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Friday that he's decided to release videos in cases where a civilian oversight board has sustained allegations of excessive force without waiting for Freedom of Information Act requests.

Dart says “the public has a right to know when officers abuse the public trust.”