Nearly two months have passed since John Wrana was killed by police, in a death that was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, and there still seems to be no end in sight to the investigation.
John Wrana was just shy of his 96th birthday. ?He lived at?Victory Centre, an assisted-living facility in Park Forest near Chicago. ?On the evening of July 26, 2013 paramedics were preparing to load him into an ambulance to transport him to the hospital for surgery when John refused to go. ?He became agitated and brandished his cane, a shoehorn, and allegedly a knife, which Wrana’s family and everyone involved except for the police dispute.
The paramedics called the Park Forest Police Department for assistance. ?This was a fatal mistake.
The police arrived at 8:45 in the evening finding Mr. Wrana sitting in a chair and yelling at the staff and the paramedics in defiance of their orders to come with them. ?According to Wrana’s doctor, the operation – if it didn’t kill him – would likely force him to end up on life support, causing the casual bystander to understand why a man almost 96 would vehemently forgo the operation.
The police acted quickly using a tazer on Mr. Wrana, and when that wasn’t completely effective they shot him in the stomach with a bean bag from a shotgun while he was still sitting in his chair.
John’s stepdaughter, Sharon?Mangerson recently spoke to the media:
“Somebody has to be held accountable. ?He was in a very fragile state of health. He fell frequently ? a very proud man. He hated to use the walker. ?They could have just thrown a sheet over him, and pulled his legs out from under him.”
She’s right. ?Why would police shoot a frail old man, no matter how violent, with a tazer?and a bean bag from a shotgun while he sat in a chair? ?John Kass of the Chicago Tribune put it most succinctly:
“No doubt, old people can sometimes become violent, especially when they’re frustrated or scared. I don’t know whether Wrana had a knife. Police say he did, the family’s lawyer has doubts. It doesn’t really matter whether he had a knife or not ? why didn’t they just wait him out? He wasn’t going anywhere. All they had to do was close the door and wait for him to fall asleep.”
Deputy Police Chief Mike McNamara said that the officer who fired the gun had completed a departmental training to use it, even though the gun had not been fired on a call in 10 years. ?McNamara also indicated that he stands by his officers and has full confidence in their decision-making.
Dr. William Bozeman, an expert on “less lethal weaponry,” including shotguns that shoot beanbag rounds said:
“Police are told not to fire beanbag rounds at a close distance. But the family’s lawyer, Nicholas Grapsas, says Mr. Wrana may have been within 15 feet, and even as close as 5 feet. There are no universal guidelines about distance, but most police departments use manufacturer’s recommendations. We found several such minimum-distance recommendations, which ranged from 21 feet to 50 feet.”
The investigation is still ongoing and many questions are left unanswered, but one thing is for sure: ?A very elderly man is dead from internal bleeding in his stomach, hit from a bean bag from a shotgun at close range, simply because he didn’t to go through with a life-threatening operation.
Edited by: Jeromie Williams – Photo: Facebook
