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95-year-old killed by Park Forest, IL coppers

MaggieD

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...Just a few weeks shy of his 96th birthday, in need of a walker to move about, cops coming through the door of his retirement home with a Taser and a shotgun...The old man, described by a family member as "wobbly" on his feet, had refused medical attention. The paramedics were called. They brought in the Park Forest police.


First they tased him, but that didn't work. So they fired a shotgun, hitting him in the stomach with a bean-bag round. Wrana was struck with such force that he bled to death internally, according to the Cook County medical examiner...


And after doing some digging, I found there are two versions of events: The police version, and a new picture that raises questions of whether John Wrana was killed unnecessarily.

The Park Forest police version is that on the night of July 26, John Wrana, a resident of the Victory Centre senior living facility, threatened staff and paramedics with a 2-foot-long metal shoehorn and a metal cane. The police statement neglects to mention that the old man also used a walker, at least according to photographs supplied by Grapsas.
"Attempts were made verbally to have the resident comply with demands to drop the articles, to no avail," the police statement reads. "The resident then armed himself with a 12-inch butcher type kitchen knife."

But lawyer Grapsas says that Wrana's family never saw a knife in his room and that staff also told him Wrana didn't have such a knife.

"So where did the knife come from?" Grapsas asked.

The police statement leaves the impression that the staff was under threat, leaving police with no choice other than to shoot him. But according to Maria Oliva, an executive with Pathway Senior Living, the staff was kept out of the room after police arrived. So there was no imminent threat to staff."The staff was not inside once the police were on the scene," Oliva told us. "At different times the staff were in there, but not when they were called. They (the police) were in charge at that point."
Police said there had been threats made against the staff. But Grapsas said he was told that staff begged to be allowed to try to calm down the old man. "If there were threats to the staff, why did the staff want to intervene and say, 'Let us handle this; we'll get him calmed down'?" he asked.

Grapsas says he was told that police used a riot shield to come through the door before shooting bean-bag rounds at the old man as he sat in his chair. Riot shields are used to push back mobs of angry young protesters in the streets, or against dangerous convicts in prison cells, not to subdue an old, old man in a chair.

"At some point, I'm told there were between five and seven police officers, they went back to the room with a riot shield in hand, entered the door and shot him with a shotgun that contained bean-bag rounds," Grapsas said.

If this is true and police had a riot shield, why on earth would they need a shotgun?

Most veteran cops I talked to suspect this is a case of unnecessary force. I've never met a police officer who couldn't handle a 95-year-old man in a walker. And John Wrana wasn't Jason Bourne. He was an old war veteran who didn't want to be pushed around...


This is just too ridiculous for words. Your thoughts?


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...r-type-kitchen-knife-park-forest-police-taser
 
Despicable. Oh, but those 96 year olds can really move across rooms quickly and attack.
 
Despicable. Oh, but those 96 year olds can really move across rooms quickly and attack.

Just who was the idiot who said, "Hey!!!! Let's taze him!!!! Let's beanbag him!!!!" This just infuriates me. How would any of us feel if that was our loved one? Lived 96 years on the face of this earth and ends up being killed by some hotdog cops without working brain cell between them. Unbelievable.
 
shooting a 95 year old in the stomach is unwise IMHO, they should have aimed for legs or arms but honestly they should not have shot at all. You just do not do that unless the man poses such a threat that there is no possible other recourse than shooting him. With 5-7 young vital cops, a riot shield etc. they should have been able to solve the situation without violence. Or better yet, called upon a family member to solve the situation.
 
Just who was the idiot who said, "Hey!!!! Let's taze him!!!! Let's beanbag him!!!!" This just infuriates me. How would any of us feel if that was our loved one? Lived 96 years on the face of this earth and ends up being killed by some hotdog cops without working brain cell between them. Unbelievable.

This is why so many people "hate" or distrust cops.

Every person who has witnessed this kind of nonsense, and seen NO repercussions levied against the officers involved, will probably NEVER trust the police again.

I've personally seen a ridiculous amount of abuse at the hands of police. I understand they have a dangerous job, which gets hairy and complex at times. But when they **** up they need to be held accountable, not just have it swept under the rug, as usually happens. I don't know of anybody who ever filed a complaint that ever received ANY satisfaction.

Make an example of cops who obviously ****ed up. It will go much farther with community relations than pretending it was ok to preserve the "image" of the department. Which is how an officer once explained the phenomenon.
 
So many things to say!

If Obama had a grandfather he's have looked like this guy. Oh, wait! Obama did have a grandfather and he did look like this guy!

The victim was white, but even if the cops were black, Charlie Wrangle will not call this an act of Racism.

When I worked as a hospital orderly, it wasn't unusual for irrational patients, or patients experiencing a transient mental episode to grab items and threaten the staff with physical injury. We didn't call the cops, we didn't tase them, and we didn't shoot them.

We didn't even use harsh language while we disarmed and restrained them. If we had, people would have thought us wusses and sued us. The standard approach was to pin them with a mattress.

Perhaps out of shape hospital orderlies out to train the police to deal with lethal threats from people born long before most of their grandparents.

People who want to turn their health care, and thus their flesh over to public entities would be well advised to meditate upon this issue.

Perhaps we should expect the Democrats to call for shoe horn control.

Nonagenarians should be licensed in order to protect the police, it seems.
 
This is why so many people "hate" or distrust cops.

Every person who has witnessed this kind of nonsense, and seen NO repercussions levied against the officers involved, will probably NEVER trust the police again.

I've personally seen a ridiculous amount of abuse at the hands of police. I understand they have a dangerous job, which gets hairy and complex at times. But when they **** up they need to be held accountable, not just have it swept under the rug, as usually happens. I don't know of anybody who ever filed a complaint that ever received ANY satisfaction.

Make an example of cops who obviously ****ed up. It will go much farther with community relations than pretending it was ok to preserve the "image" of the department. Which is how an officer once explained the phenomenon.

Yeah, I'm getting tired of this heavy-handed cop garbage these days.
It is getting out of hand, just like the old days
 
So many things to say!

If Obama had a grandfather he's have looked like this guy. Oh, wait! Obama did have a grandfather and he did look like this guy!

The victim was white, but even if the cops were black, Charlie Wrangle will not call this an act of Racism.

When I worked as a hospital orderly, it wasn't unusual for irrational patients, or patients experiencing a transient mental episode to grab items and threaten the staff with physical injury. We didn't call the cops, we didn't tase them, and we didn't shoot them.

We didn't even use harsh language while we disarmed and restrained them. If we had, people would have thought us wusses and sued us. The standard approach was to pin them with a mattress.

Perhaps out of shape hospital orderlies out to train the police to deal with lethal threats from people born long before most of their grandparents.

People who want to turn their health care, and thus their flesh over to public entities would be well advised to meditate upon this issue.

Perhaps we should expect the Democrats to call for shoe horn control.

Nonagenarians should be licensed in order to protect the police, it seems.

Pin them to the wall with a mattress. Of course, it makes perfect sense. Somebody shoulda' told the assholes. But they had new TOYS to try. Very sad story. Thanks for your insight.
 
Perhaps this is just a test case for the incessantly warned of and dreaded future of The Death Panels. Quick, clean and simple. Using bullets would have left a mess.






























:roll:
 
So many things to say!

If Obama had a grandfather he's have looked like this guy. Oh, wait! Obama did have a grandfather and he did look like this guy!

The victim was white, but even if the cops were black, Charlie Wrangle will not call this an act of Racism.

When I worked as a hospital orderly, it wasn't unusual for irrational patients, or patients experiencing a transient mental episode to grab items and threaten the staff with physical injury. We didn't call the cops, we didn't tase them, and we didn't shoot them.

We didn't even use harsh language while we disarmed and restrained them. If we had, people would have thought us wusses and sued us. The standard approach was to pin them with a mattress.

Perhaps out of shape hospital orderlies out to train the police to deal with lethal threats from people born long before most of their grandparents.

People who want to turn their health care, and thus their flesh over to public entities would be well advised to meditate upon this issue.

Perhaps we should expect the Democrats to call for shoe horn control.

Nonagenarians should be licensed in order to protect the police, it seems.

What does any of this have to do with President Obama? Oh wait, I forgot. Obama is responsible for everything bad that happens! My mistake.
 
What does any of this have to do with President Obama? Oh wait, I forgot. Obama is responsible for everything bad that happens! My mistake.

:rofl -- Payback for Bush.
 
They had to shoot him in order to try saving him wtf?
 
Yeah, I'm getting tired of this heavy-handed cop garbage these days.
It is getting out of hand, just like the old days

It really sucks. Because it should be, and can be, a job of universal respect. Where only actual bad guys need fear interacting with them.

We can chalk this one up to the drug war. Victimless crimes are socially problematic. When political motivations are added to the mix you have escalation of violence as increasing drug profits meet increased enforcement. Arms races occur.

And the next thing you know some cop is cuffing you and talking to you like an unrepentant gang banger as a matter of procedure for a traffic stop. And if you call him on it you get a "justified" beating.

This isn't everywhere, its certainly not all cops. But it happens enough, and departments do nothing about it, that it erodes what a cop should be: a trusted protector.

In the eyes of those they're supposed to be protecting, they stop being shepherds and become the state's wolves.

It is getting worse. And when people get up in arms about it, they just point to the unrest as justification for more aggressive policies.

It really broke my heart when I realized as a responsible adult that I needed to teach adolescents to be "careful" with cops if they encountered them for their own safety. That hormone fueled nonsense LOTS of people I know did can get you killed by a cop today. That a smart mouth can get you beaten, charged with assault (or something you clearly didn't do), even killed. All while trying to instill the proper respect for the good cops and what they do for us.
 
This is just too ridiculous for words. Your thoughts?[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR]

Did cops need a Taser, riot shield and shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old veteran? - Chicago Tribune

And the reason the cops came to begin with was that the man refused medical attention?

Doesn't he have a right to refuse medical attention if he wants to?

and they come in and wind up killing him.

This sounds to me like a great illustration of what happens when a government entity decides to protect someone from themselves.
 
It really sucks. Because it should be, and can be, a job of universal respect. Where only actual bad guys need fear interacting with them.

We can chalk this one up to the drug war. Victimless crimes are socially problematic. When political motivations are added to the mix you have escalation of violence as increasing drug profits meet increased enforcement. Arms races occur.

And the next thing you know some cop is cuffing you and talking to you like an unrepentant gang banger as a matter of procedure for a traffic stop. And if you call him on it you get a "justified" beating.

This isn't everywhere, its certainly not all cops. But it happens enough, and departments do nothing about it, that it erodes what a cop should be: a trusted protector.

In the eyes of those they're supposed to be protecting, they stop being shepherds and become the state's wolves.

It is getting worse. And when people get up in arms about it, they just point to the unrest as justification for more aggressive policies.

It really broke my heart when I realized as a responsible adult that I needed to teach adolescents to be "careful" with cops if they encountered them for their own safety. That hormone fueled nonsense LOTS of people I know did can get you killed by a cop today. That a smart mouth can get you beaten, charged with assault (or something you clearly didn't do), even killed. All while trying to instill the proper respect for the good cops and what they do for us.

Usually, when I go off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the thread, just because I had to get it out there, I'll say Rant Off. ;) ;)
 
This is why so many people "hate" or distrust cops.

Every person who has witnessed this kind of nonsense, and seen NO repercussions levied against the officers involved, will probably NEVER trust the police again.

I'm not sure it matters if the cop suffers repercussions, the trust is lost when no one stopped the offense/abuse before it happened. Repercussions don't return lost time, injury, loss of life, etc.

Just my two cents
 
Is there some point reached where a person has to pick between being killed by the police or executed for shooting the police if the the police are crashing thru your door for whatever reason?
 
Well that is one way to discourage people from requesting Park Forest's assistance in the future.
 
Just who was the idiot who said, "Hey!!!! Let's taze him!!!! Let's beanbag him!!!!" This just infuriates me. How would any of us feel if that was our loved one? Lived 96 years on the face of this earth and ends up being killed by some hotdog cops without working brain cell between them. Unbelievable.
There was a case a while back with a senior woman shot by police during a bad no knock warrant service, she kept a gun for protection and fired some rounds after they kicked in her door. Of course the police mistake was protected and it was filed under an "unfortunate misunderstanding" but I think if these officers are granted that kind of force and **** up they should be held accountable.

EDIT - The woman was iirc completely deaf and sight restricted.
 
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Yeah, I'm getting tired of this heavy-handed cop garbage these days.
It is getting out of hand, just like the old days
My big fear is these officers all over are going to keep doing these heavy handed maneuvers and cause an uproar, it isn't that far fetched that people start shooting back.
 
I don't want to judge this particular situation without all the facts firmly established.

I have heard of several situations where a person with a mental health problem makes threats and gets killed or beaten by police when the threat was not imminent. In many cases it seems that the police are outraged at being disobeyed and/or become impatient, and use violence to end the crisis instead of using other techniques, including simply waiting for the suspect to calm down.

Here's an example of such a situation handled well:

"A standoff between police officials and an armed suspect ended peacefully Monday after 24 hours of negotiations.

Anthony Wade Arrington Jr., a 23-year-old Fremont resident, surrendered to the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team (BSHNT) shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Monday, 24 hours after barricading himself inside a West Berkeley apartment with a firearm.

Arrington walked out of the apartment unarmed and was handcuffed and led to a waiting police car without incident, said BPD public information officer Kevin Schofield. The standoff began at 11:54 a.m. Sunday when a resident of a building on the 1900 block of 10th Street called police to report sighting a man with a gun.

BPD officers responding to the call were forced to dive for cover after a shot was fired from the doorway of the apartment building. One police officer sustained a mild head injury from a piece of shrapnel, but did not require medical attention.

Meanwhile, Arrington had run back inside the building and locked himself in the apartment, refusing to surrender. BSHNT officials arrived at the scene within an hour.........

When it became clear that the standoff would last much of the night, BPD officials made arrangements for the Davises and other area families to stay in local hotels.

......Schofield said that the police department’s hostage negotiation team, including mental health specialists, worked through the night to continue communication with Arrington, a process that he said Arrington was willing to participate in. Berkeley Police Negotiator Team Leader Rob Westerhoff led police talks with Arrington, and Westerhoff himself escorted the suspect to a police car after he surrendered.

“He kept the lines of communication open with us the entire time,” Schofield said. “We knew that we would be able to convince him to come out peacefully at some point because as long as he was willing to talk to us, we were willing to talk to him.” "

Armed Standoff Ends Peaceably, Neighbors Praise Berkeley Police. Category: Page One from The Berkeley Daily Planet
 
A solution is to advocate for adoption of the Memphis Model by law enforcment.

"The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a community partnership working with mental health consumers and family members. Our goal is to set a standard of excellence for our officers with respect to treatment of individuals with mental illness. This is done by establishing individual responsibility for each event and overall accountability for the results. Officers will be provided with the best quality training available, they will be part of a specialized team which can respond to a crisis at any time and they will work with the community to resolve each situation in a manner that shows concern for the citizen’s well being.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overview
In 1988, the Memphis Police Department joined in partnership with the Memphis Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), mental health providers, and two local universities (the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee) in organizing, training, and implementing a specialized unit. This unique and creative alliance was established for the purpose of developing a more intelligent, understandable, and safe approach to mental crisis events. This community effort was the genesis of the Memphis Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team.

The CIT is made up of volunteer officers from each Uniform Patrol Precinct. CIT officers are called upon to respond to crisis calls that present officers face-to-face with complex issues relating to mental illness. CIT officers also perform their regular duty assignment as patrol officers.

The Memphis Police Department has approximately 225 CIT officers who participate in specialized training under the instructional supervision of mental health providers, family advocates, and mental health consumer groups. Due to the training, CIT officers can, with confidence, offer a more humane and calm approach. These officers maintain a 24 hour, seven day a week coverage.

The CIT Model has been instrumental in offering:

Special trained officers to respond immediately to crisis calls

Ongoing training of CIT officers at no expense to the City of Memphis

Establishments of partnerships of police, National Alliance on Mental Illness/Memphis, mental health providers, and mental health consumers.

The Crisis Intervention Team program is a community effort enjoining both the police and the community together for common goals of safety, understanding, and service to the mentally ill and their families. It is to these goals the Memphis Police Department stands committed.

The CIT program provides an avenue for the development of community partnerships and the collaboration of working together for community interest of service and care. CIT is about doing the right thing for the right reasons. CIT recognizes a special population that deserves special care, treatment, and service. CIT is not about fame, fortune, nor glory, but rather, one of honor and service.

As an innovative program, the CIT model encourages communities, families, law enforcement officers, and mental health professionals to act as a compass for consumers of mental illness. An increase in illegal narcotic/alcohol abuse and the “deinstitutionalzation” of mentally ill citizens has caused many to become homeless and potentially more violent which increases the chances of involvement with law enforcement. This increases the possibility for excessive force complaints and the inevitable backlash from the community.

Traditional police methods, misinformation, and a lack of sensitivity cause fear and frustration for consumers and their families. Too often, officers’ respond to crisis calls where they felt at a disadvantage or were placed in a no-win situation.

Unfortunately, it is usually after a tragedy that police departments look for change. As a proactive program, CIT acts as a model committed to preventing tragic situations and finding “win-win” solutions for all persons concerned.

A response to mentally ill crisis events must be immediate. The National Alliance on Mental Illness/Memphis and the Memphis Police Department agree that an “immediate response” is preferable to that of specialized mental health workers on call or a mobile crisis van response. By offering an immediate humane and calm approach, CIT officers reduce the likelihood of physical confrontations and enhance better patient care. As such, the CIT program is a beginning for the necessary adjustment that law enforcement must make from a traditional police responses to a more humane treatment of individuals with mental illness.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Program Benefits
Since the CIT program began in Memphis, the citizens and the criminal justice system of Memphis have experienced significant benefits of the program. Some of the benefits of the program are listed below.

Crisis response is immediate

Arrests and use of force has decreased

Underserved consumers are identified by officers and provided with care

Patient violence and use of restraints in the ER has decreased

Officers are better trained and educated in verbal de-escalation techniques

Officer’s injuries during crisis events have declined

Officer recognition and appreciation by the community has increased

Less “victimless” crime arrests

Decrease in liability for health care issues in the jail

Cost savings


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Significant Achievements
National advocates, such as The National Alliance on Mental Illness and The American Association of Suicidology have recognized the CIT program for distinguished service to the mentally ill. NAMI (Memphis) credits CIT with saving lives and preventing injuries, both for consumers and officers. Officer injury data has decreased by seven-fold since the program inception. University of Tennessee studies have shown that the CIT program has resulted in a decrease in arrests rates for the mentally ill, an impressive rate of diversion into the health care system, and a resulting low rate of mental illness in our jails.

Most importantly, CIT officers give consumers a sense of dignity. This dignity generates a new respect and outlook on the police and the mental health systems......"
CIT
 
... When I worked as a hospital orderly, it wasn't unusual for irrational patients, or patients experiencing a transient mental episode to grab items and threaten the staff with physical injury. We didn't call the cops, we didn't tase them, and we didn't shoot them.

We didn't even use harsh language while we disarmed and restrained them. If we had, people would have thought us wusses and sued us. The standard approach was to pin them with a mattress.

Perhaps out of shape hospital orderlies out to train the police to deal with lethal threats from people born long before most of their grandparents......

"Mental Health Technicians" have the job of dealing with people, mentally and physically, with severe mental illness while they are mental health facilities (hospitals etc.). It is their duty to respond when the patients act inappropriately, including when they make threats or are violent. As mentioned, they can do this without weapons because they know how to de-escalate situations. They have an excellent record of avoiding injures to anyone.

A very significant portion of the people the police need to interact with are mentally ill. I believe that all armed law enforcment officers should receive the same training as "Mental Health Technicians" and should be required to master those skills. Perhaps an internship in a mental health facility should also be required. This would reduce violence, lawsuits and improve police-community relations significantly.
 
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