Nov. 21--The trial of a Park Forest police officer charged for his role in the death of veteran John Wrana Jr. is expected to take place early next year.
Officer Craig Taylor is facing one count of reckless conduct for the July 2013 confrontation in which he fired five beanbag rounds from a shotgun to subdue the knife-wielding Wrana, 95, in his assisted-living facility in the south suburb.
On Friday, with Taylor present, Cook County Associate Judge Luciano Panici set a tentative Jan. 13 trial date in his Markham courtroom.
Panici, not a jury, is expected to decide Taylor's fate during the upcoming trial.
In a front-page Tribune story Friday, the 11-year police veteran defended his actions, saying he followed his supervisor's instructions and did his job "by the book."
Taylor has been placed on paid desk duty until the outcome of his trial.
Police were called to the Victory Centre of Park Forest complex after staff said the World War II veteran over several hours earlier that day made deadly threats, attacked paramedics with his cane and remained holed up in his apartment.
Within minutes of their arrival, a police commander, corporal and three patrol officers carrying a riot shield, Taser, a shotgun loaded with 12 beanbag rounds and a drawn handgun confronted Wrana, who prosecutors said was armed with a large knife, cane and 2-foot-long metal shoehorn that police initially mistook to be a machete.
As Wrana threatened to cut the officers with the knife, the commander tried to shock him with the Taser, but the prongs didn't connect. When Wrana again came at officers, police said, Taylor shot him once with a beanbag round in the abdomen, paused and then fired four more times until Wrana dropped the knife.
Wrana died five hours later of internal bleeding after doctors said he refused their repeated requests to operate. They said Wrana, who had a do-not-resuscitate order, feared he'd be kept alive on a ventilator after surgery even though doctors had described the wound as easily repairable.
In charging Taylor with reckless conduct in April, prosecutors said police ignored "other viable options" to better handle the situation, including leaving Wrana alone in his apartment to calm down. But Taylor's attorney, Terry Ekl, said Taylor would have been justified to use lethal force, let alone firing the beanbag rounds, considered nonlethal. He said four of the five rounds struck Wrana.
The trial could turn on experts on police procedure and whether Taylor improperly fired the rounds from a much closer range then called for during training. An expert hired by the defense found Taylor acted appropriately.
Prosecutors, whose first attempt to hire an expert failed after he sided with the defense, said they are seeking another expert opinion, according to courtroom testimony Friday.
In the official state police investigation into the encounter, all five officers said they feared for their lives as the armed Wrana ignored repeated commands to drop the weapon. While relatives and friends said Wrana needed a cane or walker to get around, all the staffers, paramedics and police who were interviewed by state police said they didn't see him use such a walking aid that evening.
In his first interview since he was charged, Taylor, a married father of five who served in the 1990s in the Army's National Guard, told the Tribune he is looking forward to his trial in order to clear his name.
"I think as a police officer we are getting a bad rap these days because (people) don't know the facts," he said in the interview. "They just see the end of something happening and they just assume that, 'OK, this officer is wrong' when they don't know what is happening from the beginning to the end."
cmgutowski@tribpub.com
Twitter @christygutowsk1
