Karl Battiste
Photograph of Karl Battiste courtesy of Karla Battiste, obtained from Southside Weekly
Karl Battiste, a native Chicagoan, grew up the youngest child in a big family. After graduating from high school, he worked in the shipping industry and married Valencia Smith. He was a father, stepfather, grandfather, and step-grandfather, and especially loved spending time with his granddaughter Briana after school while her mom was at work. Karl’s public defender, Margaret Domin, told Southside Weekly that “his day revolved around when his granddaughter came home for school,” and he filled his apartment with toys and pictures.
“He was really big on politics; he was just a smart man and strong about what he believed in. He was really into sports, especially baseball. Whenever he could see a game, he would. But for the most part, he loved enjoying time with his family and his grandkids,” said Karl’s niece Tiffany to Southside Weekly. She also reflected on how Karl loved to dress up: “In the summertime, he loved to barbeque and have the family come over and eat and play cards. On the holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, I would always cook, and he would always get really dressed up really sharp and come over and buy all the grandkids, nieces, and nephews gifts. He made sure that every Christmas, he would buy the young men in the family a suit. They knew that Uncle Karl was going to bring them a suit.”
Photograph of Karl Battiste and his stepdaughter, obtained from Southside Weekly
Karl died of Covid-19 on Sunday, April 19th at the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. He was 64 years old and incarcerated at Cook County Jail at the time of his death.
At the jail, he was forced to sleep under a fan in close proximity with two people who had tested positive for the virus. Karl began to experience a headache and was worried about the spread of Covid-19. He expressed his fears to his daughter Karla in a phone call a little over a week before his death. “I didn’t think anything about it because I thought my dad was going to live on,” Karla told Southside Weekly. “That was the last time I got a phone call from Cook County Jail and from my dad.”
Karl was awaiting trial and being held at Cook County Jail without bail, a decision which his lawyer thought made no sense given his age. When Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced that it would review cases for release as the conditions of the pandemic worsened, Karl’s lawyer filed a bond reduction motion. As she was preparing, she searched for her client in the records system and found that he had been hospitalized. She demanded an emergency call, and finally, her contact at the jail complied. “When I heard his voice, I literally burst out crying,” she recalled. “I was just so relieved to hear his voice. And that man, he started laughing at me, he was like, ‘Oh, Ms. Domin, don’t be silly.’”
Photograph of Karl Battiste with his daughter Karla courtesy of Karla Battiste, obtained from Southside Weekly
Karla asserted that her father’s death should have been prevented, and planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office. Karl’s death was the fourth at Cook County jail, a facility now infamous for its poor Covid-19 safety conditions.
The Battistes were unable to hold a funeral for Karl because of public health restrictions on family gatherings. Instead, they honored Karl by lighting candles and releasing balloons into the sky.
“My father was the smartest man that I knew. And he was very generous—he always gave his last dime,” Karla told Southside Weekly. “He had a hard life, but he had a good soul.”
This memorial was written by MOL team member Kira Grossfield with information from reporting by Kiran Misra and Shadowproof of Southside Weekly and Lorraine Swanson of Patch.
