Peru Police Department responds to Jelani Day march happening next week

 
 
PERU – Peru Police Chief Robert Pyszka says he is looking forward to working with Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at their peaceful march in Peru next week.  The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the famed civil rights activist will be gathering with others in front of the Peru police station on Tuesday asking for justice in the ongoing death investigation of  25-year-old Jelani Day. Chief Pyszka says the Peru Police Department and Mayor Kolowski are working with Jackson and his team to assist them in any way they can.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is helping organize the get-together that will begin in front of the station at noon before moving to the Illinois Valley YMCA, where Day’s vehicle was found abandoned on August 26th, one day after he was reported missing. Day’s body was found on September 4th near the Illinois River. Day’s mother Carmen Bolden Day, has previously stated that she believes her son did not put himself in the river. According to Reverend Jackson, the march is not a march on the city of Peru, but a march in Peru to give the Day family closure.
State Representative Kam Buckner formally requests that the Peru Police Department allow the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation to immediately initiate and lead an investigation into the death of Jelani Day. Buckner states that the current investigation has included, “unsettling discrepancies and inconsistencies including with the analysis of surveillance video and the securing of the crime scene among other issues.”