Thousands Raised for Family of Man Who Died in Tower at Suburban Mall

Thousands of dollars have been raised for the West Dundee family of a construction worker who was killed while working in the bell tower at Geneva Commons last week.

Donald Tentler died of suffocation, according to preliminary autopsy results released Monday, after he was pinned between a crane he was in and the tower at the Commons, the Kane County Chronicle reports.

“He died of compression asphyxiation due to the mechanical compression of his neck," Russell told the newspaper "There was no broken neck. There was nothing that was crushed. His airway was pinched off between the cherry picker and an actual part of the tower. We are awaiting toxicology, but this is an accidental death."

Friends of the Tentler family have set up a YouCaring page to raise money for his wife and young son and daughter. As of Tuesday afternoon, over $12,000 has been raised by 161 supporters of the West Dundee family.
Geneva firefighters responded at 11:48 a.m. on Feb. 3 for a reported rescue from the central bell tower at the open-air shopping center at 602 Commons Drive. They found two construction workers at the top of the bell tower, one conscious and the other unconscious and unresponsive, according to a Geneva community alert.

The unconscious worker was pronounced dead at the scene. Kane County Coroner Rob Russell later identified him as Donald J. Tentler, 47, of the 600 block of South Seventh Street in West Dundee.

Firefighters assisted the conscious construction worker in walking down a fire department aerial ladder and thereafter, conducted his elevated recovery that took about three hours.

Tentler was a cub scout leader and was actively involved in the Wounded Warrior Project, the Kane County Chronicle reports. He also rode his motorcycle and marched in parades in his troop leader uniform in St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva every year for charities, Tentler’s sister-in-law, Karen Fitzsimmons of Geneva, told the Kane County Chronicle.

The incident remains under investigation by the Geneva Police Department, Kane County Coroner’s Office and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Photo credit: YouCaring website