Beaten (Ivorian) PhD Student Dies; 2 Bar Bouncers Charged
Rogu...@aol.com
June 30, 1998
BY JON SCHMID STAFF REPORTER
Chicago Suntimes
Ernest Seri, 31, was wrapping up work on a doctorate in French literature at
the University of Illinois. He had a college teaching job lined up in Arizona.
He was popular among fellow students. He was engaged to be married.
Seri died over the weekend after being severely beaten Thursday at the Gypsy,
a tavern in downtown Champaign. On Monday, two bouncers from the bar were
charged with first-degree murder.
Students said Seri and his fiancee were at the Gypsy to celebrate their
engagement.
William Gaston, a Champaign County prosecutor, said Seri and one of the
bouncers, Robert Jurkacek, 31, argued late Thursday night. Investigators said
they believe it was because Seri had not been allowed to go to the second
floor of the bar.
Gaston said Jurkacek kicked and shoved Seri out of the building and slammed
his head against a brick wall. Another bouncer who weighs about 300 pounds,
Rubin Navarette, 27, then sat on the 155-pound Seri, Gaston said.
``He told him if he didn't stay still, he'd kill him,'' Gaston said.
Seri went into cardiac arrest afterward, according to the county coroner. He
died Saturday at a Champaign hospital.
Champaign County State's Attorney John Piland said, ``We believe the level of
force was completely inappropriate.''
Piland said he has received many calls from people ``concerned about whether
or not there was racial motive.'' Seri, who was from the Ivory Coast in West
Africa, was black.
One of Seri's roommates, Kwassy Surheyao, said his death was especially sad
``because things were working out very well for him.''
Surheyao said Seri ``liked to joke all the time. He would get behind the door
and scare you when you came in.'' Seri ``went out to the bars a lot. He liked
to have fun, go play soccer.''
Monday night about 80 people, most of them students, staged a silent protest
in front of the Gypsy bar. Many held candles, which they shielded from rain
with umbrellas and their hands.
Contributing: Associated Press
Chicago Suntimes
tk42...@gmail.com
This article is clumsily incomplete. A drunk Seri sucker punched Jurkacek in the head before Jurkacek did anything. Please be more accurate in the future.
