A man died at the Cook County Jail last Friday following a confrontation with correctional officers in which he was beaten, body-slammed, and injected with sedatives, records show.
Cory Ulmer, 41, was described in an internal report by the sergeant in charge during the incident as “combative” and disobeying his jailers’ commands. At one point, Ulmer managed to “head butt” the sergeant, the report says.
Ulmer’s attorney said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had a history of manic episodes. Ulmer was handcuffed with his hands in front of his body, and was sedated by a jail nurse moments before he died, according to the report.
Investigators from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office went to the home of Ulmer’s stepfather to inform the family of his death, but provided them no details.
“They said he got locked up and he went to the hospital, and unfortunately he didn’t make it — that’s all he told me,” Robert Robinson said.
A 2-year-old state law requires Dart’s office to notify families of people who die in his custody “as soon as possible in a suitable manner giving an accurate factual account of the cause of death and circumstances surrounding the death.”
Contacted by Injustice Watch on Monday — two days before it obtained the sergeant’s report — Dart’s spokesman said Ulmer “suffered a medical emergency” and was later pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital.
In an email Thursday, Dart’s spokesperson again declined to provide details about Ulmer’s death citing an ongoing investigation, but confirmed 11 jail employees were reassigned until the investigation is complete.
“Nothing in our initial response to you was inaccurate,” Dart’s spokesman said.
“Mr. Ulmer died after suffering a medical emergency.”
Dart declined an interview request.
Jesse Guth, an attorney and former county prosecutor retained by Ulmer’s family, said Ulmer’s family is “shocked and outraged” by his death.
“Cory’s family and the people of Cook County deserve no less than the full truth,” Guth said. “He was a son, a brother, a nephew, and a cousin. He deserves to be more than a statistic. He deserves justice.”
Ulmer’s death, the first at the jail this year, comes two weeks after Injustice Watch published “Dying on Dart’s Watch,” a yearlong investigation into oversight failures in the lead up to at least half of the 18 deaths at the jail last year — the most since 2013.
Ulmer was jailed last Thursday after violating the terms of his pretrial release. Prosecutors had charged him with aggravated assault and armed robbery in January 2023, and he was released on electronic monitoring after pleading not guilty. According to Dart’s spokesperson, Ulmer allegedly refused to return to his approved host site, which landed him back in jail.
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Ulmer’s attorney in the case told Injustice Watch that Ulmer was having a bipolar episode at a bus stop and wielded a pocket knife. “He was a nice guy in a tight spot, and I felt for him,” said attorney Jonathan S. Goldman.
Robinson said he last spoke with his stepson last Wednesday, the day before he was returned to jail.
“Listen, he was fine when I talked to him,” Robinson said. “He was at his apartment, and he was talking to me about, you know, just life, and that he wanted to get off that monitor so he could go out and seek out a job.
“He wasn’t delusional or anything. I don’t know what happened.”
Report details beating before Ulmer died
The document obtained by Injustice Watch is an incident report written by correctional Sgt. Enrique Reyes, a 13-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, records show.
Reached by phone, Reyes declined to comment.
According to Reyes’ report, Ulmer — described in court documents as 6 feet 2, 220 pounds — first became combative shortly after 3 p.m. in a holding cell while awaiting transfer to the jail’s mental health wing.
According to the report, Ulmer was handcuffed with his hands in front when he suddenly dashed out of the holding cell, knocking aside an officer.
“Staff conducted an emergency take-down of IIC Ulmer who was non-compliant to verbal orders to stand up,” Reyes wrote. “Ulmer refused to comply with my verbal orders to stand up and not allowing us to help him stand up, making it difficult to escort (Ulmer) to his feet due to his size and weight.”
Reyes wrote he and several officers had to “re-adjust multiple times” in an effort to escort Ulmer to the emergency room, at one point “utilizing a 4-point carry but were unable to completely lift” Ulmer off the ground.
Once in the emergency room, Reyes wrote, Ulmer became combative again, head-butting Reyes and knocking off his body camera from his chest and attempting to bite his arm.
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The report said Reyes radioed for help and officers “began utilizing strikes and pressure points to gain compliance,” but Ulmer “remained combative.” Then a jail nurse arrived and injected a sedative into Ulmer’s buttocks, and began checking for vitals after officers secured him onto a transport chair. The nurse “was unable to get vitals,” according to the report.
In April, an investigation led by the Associated Press found dozens of people have died nationwide since 2012 after being injected with sedatives during takedown arrests by law enforcement. Experts told the AP such injections administered under stressful conditions can contribute to cardiac arrest.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to determine Ulmer’s cause of death.
The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force has opened an investigation into Ulmer’s death.
According to records, Reyes was investigated on an allegation of excessive force in 2021, but internal investigators ruled there was insufficient evidence to sustain the complaint.
Ulmer was the first person to die at the jail since Christmas, when 33-year-old Michael O’Connor was found hanging in his cell at the jail’s mental health unit more than an hour after he was last seen alive by correctional officers in violation of state law, which requires guards to perform security checks every 30 minutes.
Dart’s spokesperson told news outlets at the time foul play was not suspected in O’Connor’s death the day after he died.
David Jackson contributed to this report.
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