A Joliet police lieutenant who was in charge of the department’s narcotics unit has been recommended for termination by the police chief and he plans to appeal, according to his attorney.

Attorney Oliver Soleiman said he learned Monday that Jeremy Harrison, a 25-year veteran of the department, has been recommended for termination by Joliet Police Chief William Evans.

Soleiman, works for the Michael D. Ettinger & Associates law firm, said Harrison plans to appeal the termination recommendation.

“We don’t believe Jeremy has done anything wrong and this is a wrongful termination and obviously that’s why we’re appealing,” Soleiman said.

Harrison was on leave since July 29 as part of an ongoing city inspector general investigation.

City officials have not revealed the nature of the investigation that was handled by Joliet Inspector General Stephen DiNolfo.

On Monday, Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English, the department’s spokesman, said the investigation had found “multiple violations of city policy” but he did not provide further details.

“As this relates to a personnel matter, I am unable to provide further information at this time,” English said.

Soleiman declined to comment on the circumstances behind the Harrison matter.

Harrison’s personnel file provided by the city showed he received at least 30 awards for his work for the police department.

In 2005, Harrison received a unit merit award for participating in a coordinated effort to arrest a violent fugitive known as “X-Man,” who was the ring leader behind “numerous shootings and armed robberies” in the Joliet area, city records show.

“By proverbially ‘cutting off the head of the serpent’ with the arrest of ‘X-Man,’ his band of thieves became unorganized and unable to function,” according to city records.

But Harrison is also a defendant in a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2020 over the controversial in-custody death of Eric Lurry Jr., 37, who died from a fatal drug overdose after his arrest.

He was also found to have violated departmental policy by firing a gun at a fleeing vehicle driven by a 15-year-old suspect, city records show.

Last May, a federal judge ruled that a reasonable jury could find that Harrison’s actions and orders to other officers displayed a “deliberate or reckless indifference” to Lurry’s constitutional right to receive prompt medical care.

The Lurry lawsuit case is going through settlement discussions and a conference on whether a settlement can be reached is scheduled for next February.