Cop Who Killed 95-Year-Old World War II Vet with Beanbags Goes on Trial

A trial began Tuesday for a Park Forest police officer accused of bean-bagging an irate, confused, knife-wielding 95-year-old man to death in his nursing home in July 2013.

Officer Craig Taylor, 43, charged with reckless conduct in John Wrana Jr.’s death, was met by about two dozen police officers who turned out to support him on Tuesday at the Cook County Courthouse in Markham. Wrana’s relatives were also in the courtroom.

Wrana, a World War II veteran, was refusing to leave his room at the Victory Centre for Assisted Living for a trip to a hospital when Taylor and four other Park Forest police officers confronted him. They were wearing protective vests and shields. Taylor shot Wrana, who was waving a knife and a cane, with five beanbag rounds. Wrana died of internal bleeding due to injuries he suffered when the beanbags struck the old man in the abdomen.

Police responded to a 911 call on July 26, 2013, placed by staff at Victory Centre.

“We have a resident that is threatening to harm other residents and staff,” an employee said on the 911 call released to news media. “The EMTs are here now, and he is trying to hit them.”

An Illinois State Police investigation determined that Wrana, who couldn’t get around without the aid of a cane or walker, was Tasered and then shot with beanbag rounds five times at close range as police rushed him behind a riot shield. Wrana was wielding a cane, a small knife and a 2-foot-long shoehorn. Wrana died the next day at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

The police took these actions within seven minutes of arriving at the nursing home, the investigation found.

“It was unjustified and unreasonable,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Lynn McCarthy on Tuesday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Taylor’s attorney, Terry Ekl, countered in his opening remarks that Taylor aimed for spots on the body less likely to cause serious injury.

The Tribune reports that expert witnesses in the use of force by police are expected to be called by both the defense and the prosecution.

In filing charges against Taylor, who’s been on the Park Forest police force since 2004, Cook County prosecutors said opportunities to resolve the matter without force were ignored, including requests by the nursing home staff to try to talk Wrana into calming down.

One staffer testified Tuesday. Kirsten Kielly, business office manager, testified that she saw Wrana waving his cane at paramedics but she said she wasn’t frightened, according to the Tribune.

“I knew that wasn’t John,” she told the court. “And I could just run down the hall (to escape).”

Taylor is the only officer involved in the incident to face criminal charges.

“Police officers have very difficult jobs and they often must balance the use of force with the need for force,” State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a statement when charges were filed last spring. “Given the other viable options to resolve the matter and the number of shots fired at this senior citizen at close range in rapid succession, we believe this officer’s conduct to be reckless.”

Taylor fired the beanbag rounds when Wrana was 6 to 8 feet away, according to the investigation.

“The optimum distance when firing at a human target for this weapon according to training standards is a minimum of 15 feet and a maximum of 60 feet,” prosecutors said.

A lawyer representing the Wrana family, Nicholas Grapsas, said last year involuntary manslaughter should be the charge brought against Taylor, not reckless conduct. The Wrana family has sued the police department.

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass has written at length about the death of John Wrana Jr. In one column, Kass noted that someone afflicted with a urinary tract infection may suffer symptoms of paranoia, which could have explained Wrana’s belligerent refusal to go to the hospital.

Wrana served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, fighting in Burma. When he died, he was just weeks away from his 96th birthday.

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