Jan. 14--An expert on police tactics testified Wednesday that Park Forest police officers who confronted a knife-wielding World War II veteran had a ballistic shield to protect themselves and could have simply knocked him to the floor with the weapon.
Instead Officer Craig Taylor shot the 95-year-old man with beanbag rounds from a shotgun -- a move that Francis R. Murphy, a Florida-based consultant testifying for the prosecution, called "unreasonable and unnecessary."
John Wrana Jr. died five hours later after refusing an operation to stop the internal bleeding.
Murphy called the incident in July 2013 at Wrana's retirement home an "officer-created jeopardy." He said Wrana posed no threat to the officers if they had left him alone in his room.
"They didn't start by giving it some cooling-off time," he said. "...They kept going into his room and agitating him."
But under cross-examination by Taylor's lawyer, Murphy acknowledged that Wrana could have been seriously injured if officers charged into him with the 35-pound shield and knocked him to the floor.
Prosecutors are expected to complete their case Wednesday after calling a Cook County medical examiner to discuss the injuries that led to Wrana's death.
Taylor's lawyer, Terry Ekl, has said he will then ask the judge presiding over the trial to dismiss the charges, arguing that prosecutors have failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
With few of the facts about what happened that night at Victory Center of Park Forest in dispute, the trial could hinge on testimony from competing expert witnesses on whether Taylor acted recklessly. He is charged with reckless conduct for rapidly firing five beanbag rounds from a shotgun at Wrana at close range.
Associate Judge Luciano Panici is presiding over the bench trial and will decide Taylor's fate.
In opening statements Tuesday, Ekl called the criminal prosecution "the worst form of Monday morning quarterbacking." Taylor carefully followed police policy and the orders of a superior, he said.
"There was nothing reckless about what he did," Ekl said. "He had to make an instantaneous decision based on an order from his supervisor and his own assumptions."
But Cook County prosecutors contended Taylor abandoned common sense when he fired the beanbag rounds to subdue Wrana, an energetic 95-year-old who had been acting erratically.
Assistant State's Attorney Lynn McCarthy emphasized the speed with which Taylor and four other officers -- including two supervisors -- decided to overpower the elderly man with force, saying "a matter of minutes" passed between their arrival and the firing of the beanbag rounds.
"It was unjustified and unreasonable," she told the judge.
The first full day of the trial played out in a Markham courthouse divided between police officers in dress uniform and supporters of Wrana. As many as five rows in the courtroom were occupied by officers in support of Taylor, while his wife and family sat in the front row. The opposite side of the courtroom was filled with Wrana's family and other supporters, some of whom wore badges that included his photo.
Mitchell Davis, Taylor's former Park Forest colleague who is now police chief of Robbins, told reporters that Taylor is a good officer who was obeying orders and trying to use less-than-lethal force.
"When there's somebody who does what everybody is asking him to do -- once again, it was a tragic outcome -- now he's being prosecuted for it," he said. "Now what do you want officers to do? Now it makes it so much more difficult as police officers for us to proceed at this point."
The first prosecution witness, Kirsten Kielley, business office manager at Wrana's retirement home, Victory Centre of Park Forest, waved a metal cane aloft to show the judge how she saw Wrana wielded the same cane as paramedics tried to take him to the hospital in July 2013.
Kielley said Wrana came at the paramedics "really fast," but she wasn't frightened by his actions.
"I knew that wasn't John," she testified, saying she usually talked to Wrana for up to an hour when he came to her office every month to pay his rent. "And I could just run down the hall (to escape)."
A former manager at the assisted-living facility became emotional on the witness stand as he testified about seeing officers emerging from an elevator with a shotgun.
"I think we realized at that point that something bad was about to happen," said Lanny Gibson, who had just started the job and said he didn't know the protocol in Illinois for handling uncooperative residents who needed medical treatment.
Police were called to the retirement home after Wrana resisted efforts by staff and paramedics to take him to the hospital for a urine test and a psychiatric evaluation, striking one paramedic with his cane. By the time the five officers gathered outside his studio apartment, Wrana was holding a knife with a 7-inch blade and threatening to throw it or cut officers.
Moments later, police Cmdr. Michael Baugh led the way into Wrana's apartment carrying a ballistic shield and tried to subdue him with a Taser, but it misfired and the prongs missed. Taylor, who had been instructed by Baugh to use the beanbag rounds if the Taser didn't work, then fired at Wrana until he dropped the knife -- five rounds in all.
Prosecutors noted that the officers photographed Wrana's injuries -- large bruises on his chest and abdomen and a bleeding wound from his hand where the final round hit -- before summoning waiting paramedics to treat him. But Park Forest Officer Mitchell Greer testified that the town's paramedics who were eventually called are stationed across the street from Victory Centre and arrived within two minutes.
The charge against Taylor, a police officer since 2004, is a rare criminal prosecution by Cook County authorities against an on-duty police officer.
State's Attorney Anita Alvarez has said "other viable options" could have been used to subdue Wrana other than the "violent extrication" chosen by Park Forest police.
Asked on his way into the courthouse if Taylor would testify in his own defense, Ekl said, "If he needs to, he will."
sschmadeke@tribpub.com
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke
