Jan. 07--An Elgin man taken into custody after making a bomb threat Tuesday apparently hanged himself in a Kane County Jail restroom, officials said Wednesday.
Officers said Piotr Dutkiewicz, 51, was found in a booking-area restroom about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, as officers at the jail in St. Charles were processing him on charges from an earlier incident that took place as he was being evicted from his residence in the 600 block of Forest Drive.
Medical personnel immediately began lifesaving attempts, and Dutkiewicz was transported to Delnor Hospital in Geneva, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
Kane County Coroner Rob Russell said Wednesday that an autopsy was performed on Dutkiewicz, and a pathologist issued a preliminary finding of death by self-inflicted hanging. Citing the ongoing investigation, Russell declined to divulge additional details.
The sheriff's department was attempting to contact Dutkiewicz's next of kin. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 630-444-1103.
He had been in police custody since Tuesday morning when he allegedly made a bomb threat against officers who had come to his residence to serve an eviction notice.
Police say Dutkiewicz had come outside the residence holding a large battery with wires attached to it. He said "bomb" to the officers and placed the battery on the ground.
Authorities said Dutkiewicz's native language was Polish, and the sheriff's department summoned a Polish-speaking officer to talk with him. The bomb squad responded and quickly determined that the battery device was not explosive, police said.
Dutkiewicz was taken into custody and charged with felony counts of threatening a public official and disorderly conduct.
Kane County sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said officers were completing the charging documents required to book Dutkiewicz into the jail when he asked to use the restroom in the processing area. Officers checking on him later found him unresponsive, said Gengler, who said investigators were still determining how long the man had been in the bathroom before he was discovered.
Dutkiewicz, he said, had not exhibited any signs that he intended to harm himself. And because he had not yet been admitted to the jail, he was given a measure of privacy to use the bathroom, Gengler said. The death will prompt a review of procedures, he said.
"Anytime something like this happens, we ask ourselves if there's anything we missed or if there's something we could have done differently, or if this is one of the those times we did everything we could," Gengler said. "We'll take a look at it."
According to court records, Dutkiewicz's home had been in foreclosure since 2013 and a judge had approved a sale of the property. Other records indicate he had been taken to court several times by creditors in recent years.
In 2009, a 20-year-old Yorkville man hanged himself by his belt while in a Kane County courthouse holding cell after being sentenced to two years for aggravated battery.
Rules were then changed to prevent inmates in street clothes from wearing shoelaces, belts or ties, officials said.
Also at a Kane County courthouse, a 32-year-old Elgin man was left trapped overnight in 2011 in a conference room instead of being transferred to the jail to serve four days for violating his probation on a drug offense. The man had been taken to the conference room instead of a holding cell while awaiting the transfer.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
