WWII veteran 95-year-old died after confrontation with Park Forest officers

A metal cane and and a shoehorn? Really? At 95 how dangerous was he?

Family of vet killed by police seeks answers
95-year-old died after confrontation with Park Forest officers
Chicago Tribune
By Meredith Rodriguez, reporter
September 17, 2013

Seven weeks after 95-year-old John Wrana died of internal bleeding after a confrontation with Park Forest police, his family and its attorney pressed investigators Monday for more answers and insisted that Wrana died from an excessive use of force by officers.

Wrana was a World War II veteran, well-liked and feisty, his stepdaughter and caretaker, Sharon Mangerson, 74, said at a news conference. He needed a walker but was too proud to use it, and was weeks shy of his 96th birthday, she said. Wrana was mentally sharp and loved women and gambling.

His family, she said, is heartsick at the way he died.

"It is painful to think that a man who had lived through so many things had to have been killed like that," Mangerson said. "Somebody has to be held accountable for what occurred with him."

According to a statement from Park Forest police shortly after the July 26 incident, officers were called to the Victory Centre assisted living facility at 8:42 p.m., when Wrana threatened staff and paramedics with a metal cane and a 2-foot metal shoehorn. They were trying to take him to a hospital to be treated for a urinary tract infection, which his family said had contributed to Wrana experiencing some confusion.
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