A man who died Sunday after falling down stairs on the Southwest Side is Cook County’s 12th cold-related death of the season, according to the medical examiner’s office.
A woman found 57-year-old Kurt Krueger unresponsive in a backyard about 4:58 a.m. in the 5100 block of West 63rd Place near a set of stairs, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
He was pronounced dead about 6:52 a.m., authorities said. The woman, 56, told investigators she had last seen Krueger about 9 p.m. the night before.
An autopsy found he died of injuries to his head from falling down the stairs with cold exposure as a contributing factor, the medical examiner’s office said. His death was ruled an accident.
The first death to be classified as cold-related this season was reported Nov. 1 in Avondale.
A 58-year-old man was found in the 3600 block of West Belmont Avenue and taken to Community First Medical Center, where he died of coronary atherosclerosis with cold exposure and ethanol intoxication contributing, the medical examiner’s office said.
Last season, 60 cold-related deaths were reported in Cook County between Sept. 14, 2018, and May 23, 2019.
