4 Cook County Jail detainees charged with robbing another detainee

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - Authorities released video Tuesday afternoon allegedly showing four detainees robbing another detainee on a Cook County Department of Corrections bus while they were in transit.

The robbery happened about 9 p.m. on April 28 as the group of detainees were being taken to Cook County from downstate Jefferson County, according to the sheriff’s office.

A detainee was recorded being pushed off the property bag he was sitting on by another detainee, the sheriff’s office said. He was pulled by his hair to another seat and held down while others stole items from his property bag.

The men who participated in the robbery were identified as Shaquille Williams, 24; Demetrius Tucker, 23; Darnell Cockrell, 22; and 26-year-old Devanta Howell, the sheriff’s office said.

Williams was originally booked into the jail in 2015 on a murder charge and Howell was booked in 2015 on an attempted murder charge, the sheriff’s office said. Tucker is facing attempted robbery and aggravated battery charges, while Cockrell is charged with aggravated battery, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and aggravated domestic battery.

A grand jury indicted all four men on charges of robbery, unlawful restraint, theft and aggravated battery on May 18, according to the sheriff’s office.

The detainee who was robbed was identified as a 40-year-old man who was booked into the jail last year in a habitual armed criminal case, authorities said. He was taken to Cermak Hospital for a medical evaluation, but declined treatment.