A 95-year-old resident of a Park Forest senior living community who was wielding a 12-inch blade and a cane was shocked with a Taser and then hit by bean-bag rounds from police before later dying at a south suburban hospital, according to authorities.
According to an e-mailed press release from Park Forest police, officers were sent to 101 Main Street in Park Forest about 8:42 p.m. to help a private ambulance company with a "combative" resident of the home there. The Victory Centre of Park Forest, a supportive living community for adults 65 and older according to its website, is at that address.
The resident of the faculty was being "involuntarily" committed for medical treatment by staff at the Victory Centre, the release said.
When police arrived, the man was threatening staff and paramedics with a metal cane and a 2-foot metal shoehorn, the release said. Police demanded that he drop the cane and shoehorn, but he did not comply and then picked up a "12-inch butcher type kitchen knife."
Police continued to command the man to surrender and follow their orders and eventually used a Taser on him. That failed to subdue him and he continued to threaten others, the release said. Police then fired bean bag rounds at the man to get him to drop the knife and surrender. He did so and was taken into custody.
The man was conscious and talking to officers and staff before being transported to a local hospital by the paramedics. He was later taken from St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Chicago Heights to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died about 2:30 a.m., according to authorities.
The man was later identified by the Cook County medical examiner's as John Warna, who lived at the Victory Centre.
Copyright 2013 - Chicago Tribune
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
