On Tuesday, December 11, 2018, an officer on his way to the jail with a suspect happened to pass by a man he knew had an active warrant. The officer radioed for another officer to come to the scene since he already had someone in custody.
Another officer arrived to the area of 8th Avenue and 20th Street at approximately 1:45 PM and found two men walking down the street. One of them was pushing a bicycle and was keeping his head down and looking away as if he was trying to hide his face from the officer.
The officer asked the man for ID, which identified him as Chris Jurado. Jurado asked why the officer had stopped and the officer told him that he had been advised that Jurado had a warrant. Jurado admitted that he might have one. During the course of their conversation, Jurado reached into his pocket and the officer asked him not to do that. Jurado said that he just wanted to give the contents of his pockets to his friend. The officer noticed a pocket knife in Jurado’s right front pocket. Despite being told not to, Jurado again reached for his pocket, so the officer reached down and removed the knife from his pocket and told Jurado to put his hands on the patrol vehicle.
Dispatched confirmed the warrant and Jurado was placed in handcuffs. He asked that all the contents of his pockets be given to his friend. The officer took the contents and placed them on the trunk of the patrol car. One of the items was a blue container with a Chicago Bears logo. The officer opened the container and saw a plastic bag around a dark substance that appeared to be heroin. The officer gave all the other items to the friend, who then left the scene.
Jurado was placed in the back of the patrol car and asked about the heroin. At first he didn’t say anything, but just looked straight ahead. After a brief pause the officer asked Jurado if he didn’t want to talk about it. Jurado then told the officer that he had left his bike and the blue container at a friend’s house last night and he had just gone to pick them up. He said that when he left his friend’s house last night, the only thing in the container was tobacco. He claimed that he did not know the heroin was in there. The officer, however, noted in the police report that there was no evidence of tobacco in the container.
Jurado was taken to jail and booked on the warrant. The substance in the container tested positive for heroin and was taken into evidence.
