CHICAGO — A Brighton Park man mistakenly released from the Cook County Jail — where he was being held for various charges, including domestic battery — beat up his girlfriend again while on the outside, police said.
Steven Derkits, 30, appeared in court on July 30, when a judge dropped five out of six charges against him: domestic battery, two counts of resisting arrest, violating an order of protection and simple assault, Cook County Sheriff's spokesman Ben Breit said.
The one charge that stuck was aggravated battery of a peace officer, but employees with the sheriff's office overlooked that remaining charge and mistakenly released him from the Cook County Jail, Breit said.
The office realized the error on Tuesday, when Derkits was scheduled to appear in court for the remaining charge.
Authorities took Derkits, of the 4400 block of South Talman Avenue, back into custody three hours later on Tuesday, and Breit said it took a stun gun and pepper spray to bring him in.
Breit said Derkits battered his girlfriend on Monday night, his last day of accidental freedom, and it's apparently the same girlfriend who was involved in the domestic battery charges from July, Breit said.
Derkits is not the first inmate to be erroneously released by the sheriff's office this year.
In January, convicted murderer Steven Robbins, 44, was accidentally let go after appearing in a Markham court. Robbins, who had been serving a 60-year prison sentence in Indiana for the murder, was later apprehended after the office received some 100 tips during the search.
A statement from the sheriff's office placed some blame for the incidents on the "antiquated system" of recordkeeping that Cook County uses.
"Working with more than 1,000 paper files each day invites mistakes that can have serious consequences for public safety," the statement read. "There is no excuse for this antiquated system to continue in an electronic age."
Derkits is in custody in Maywood but will soon be transferred back to the Cook County Jail, the sheriff's office said. Breit said he'll likely face additional charges, though none have been formally announced yet.
"The Sheriff’s Office is in the process of disciplining those responsible for Derkits’ release," the office's statement reads.
