There is a disturbing report out of Chicago where police were called when 95-year-old world War II veteran John Wrana refused to go to a hospital for a urinary tract infection. Called by paramedics to assist in getting Wrana into an ambulance, the Park Forest police showed up in riot gear and proceeded to shoot Wrana first with a stun gun and then with a bead bag fired from a shotgun. He no longer needed treatment for the urinary tract problem. He died from internal bleeding and blunt force trauma. He was about to celebrate his 96th birthday.
Wrana was reportedly frail and had difficulty walking. We have previously discussed other cases involving the killing of a bedridden elderly woman and an unarmed suicide case. The cases raise serious questions of the rapid escalation of such cases in the level of force used by police as well as the increasing use of “non-lethal devices” as a first response to threats.
Wrana was living in an assisted-living facility. Paramedics told police that he was threatening them with a metal shoehorn and a knife. Some reports indicate that Wrana had decided that he did not want to go through an operation. That may have been the reason why he was resisting. He said that he understood that not having the operation could kill him but decided against it. It is not clear whether he was declared incompetent before the attempt to force him to go to the hospital.
The family contests the claim of the knife. Even if he had a knife, it is hard to see why police could not stand back (particularly since they had riot shields) and avoid using such force on an individual who clearly would be a risk with either a stun gun or bean bag round. Even if the blunt trauma did not finish him off, the shock could easily trigger a heart attack in a near 96 year old man. Some reports indicate that multiple rounds of bean bags may have been used.
Wrana was U.S. Air Corps veteran who served in Burma and India during World War II. Sergeant Wrana survived the hellish fighting in Burma but would later die in the United States just short of this 96 birthday in a confrontation with police. Truly bizarre.
Just for the record. These bean bag rounds are often thought of as harmless, almost toy-like devices. The bean bags fired form a shotgun will initially travel at around 300-400 feet a second (though they have a range of 70 feet). They have been shown to break ribs and even push broken ribs into the heart. Internal bleeding is a well-known risk.
The family of this gentleman has my complete sympathy and the police officer (s) in full riot gear ????? For one frail 95 year old man ?? What is happening in our country to allow such actions as this to happen in the first place ? This is just insane people , this nation has got to wake up and realize this is just wrong and someone needs to be tried for murder.
now we know how the Obamacare death committees will work…
Oh No! Blouise, never, NEVER, leave an appendage out from under the covers. Appendages, especially feet are like handles and the covers are like an invincible shield. They/it etc. can only get you if you leave them an unshielded handle. Srsly. 🙂 No, srsly, I know these things… LoL.
Great story about that TV show having such an impact; it’s strange the things that leave such deep marks on our behavior throughout our lives. The real monsters of course aren’t even on TV or the big screen.
Yeah, I caught that, they spelled his name wrong, I saw the correction:
“(Editor’s note: This story originally misspelled the victim’s last name, based on incorrect reports from police and the medical examiner’s office. The name has been corrected.)”
That’s some sad sh*t right there.
lotta,
“I suspect that the recounting of facts was as much in disgust of the event as anything else …” Yep, you know me well.
As to the original reading of the Mail’s account, I can see how the confusion began but I knew once you saw the Tribune and especially those smaller local papers’ reports, your sense of the injustice done to Mr Wrana would go even deeper. Do you know that the Tribune misspelled his name in their original reporting because the Police Department had gotten that wrong too in their reports?
I kid you not, the Chief of that police force should be very glad I don’t live in his village.
I never developed a taste for horror and I think I know why. I was little and we had gotten our first television. We got in late one night and I ran to turn on the new “toy”. The livingroom was dark, and the program on the TV showed a woman who was standing in the corner of her bedroom screaming as a big snake crawled out of the covers at the foot of her bed. I screamed and ran upstairs. To this day I keep one foot outside the covers … just in case I have to run and I never watch horror flicks.
Blouise, I too will be interested to see what the follow-up is. If you re-iterated the facts perhaps thinking that I misunderstood more than which treatment would kill him, I appreciate the effort but it’s not necessary. Which treatment might kill him (or not) doesn’t change the nature of my posting or the absolute revulsion that his murder at the hands of the police occurred. Knowing your finely honed sense of outrage and, if I may ascribe a trait to you, your hatred of injustice, I suspect that the recounting of facts was as much in disgust of the event as anything else. it is pretty amazing isn’t it? What Feringlab said above was also one of my first thoughts.
To digress slightly, I’ve taken a break from World War Z, second time viewing. Serious zombie action, linear action, heavy, over the top action and zombie violence from the get-go. Why do people watch movies like this one?
30 years ago (I have been a science fiction/horror movie and book fan since forever) I read the first of many articles that attempted to answer that question regarding horror movies. The article postulated that people have always like horror tales because they allow the horror of everyday life (including the perceived lack of control over it) to be bound up into an experience that is understandable (within the internal logic of the story) and resolved most often with the good guys prevailing. Or at least some lesson or knowledge worth knowing being imparted.
That’s the short form. A cathartic experience to alleviate anxiety. Science fiction more generally reflects in a direct way certain current cultural, political and social trends but horror is all about anxiety. Gore as a genera is something else entirely and I’m not sure it’s a good thing.
I recall thinking a few years back that this (last 10 years or so) has been a golden age of sci-fi, horror and gore movies and that that may be a boon to fans but maybe it says something about us as a society. I don’t know. I read the news for awhile, a few days or so and a good horror or sci-fi movie is magically on my queue to watch or re-watch. Hmmmmm.
I’m probably over-thinking it, it’s a Brad Pitt movie -it doesn’t have to be much more deep than that 🙂
The sad irony is that Park Forest Village was one of those nationally planned communities established in 1949 to provide housing for veterans returning from World War II. Veterans like Mr. Wrana. I guess the Park Forest Village Police Department lost the memo.
Oh please! This is sickening. It seems like we have more than a few disturbed and out of control police officers running the streets. He was threatening the officers with a “shoe horn and a knife” C’mon! – they shot him ” first with a stun gun and then with a bead bag fired from a shotgun.”
Some big, brave macho nuts wearing a badge. This is no better than the sicko who shot and killed a baby in a stroller!
Just when we think things can’t get any worse……they do. And we say this every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day………it just keeps getting worse!!!
Hooray! I see Turley got an editor.
Couldn’t they just wait until he fell asleep?! I mean dayum, 95? GTFOH.
The Mail is a lousy source. Take the time to look at the link…note the right hand column. All the news fit for the Kardashians. Further, The Mail used two other sources to write the article: The Tribune, which is fine. The other (and quoted more extensively)? The Blaze, Glenn Beck’s news site.
I despair.
lotta,
A 95-96 year old wobbly man who couldn’t walk without the aid of his walker was sitting in his chair when the police entered his room behind riot shields.
The staff said there was no knife, just his walker and cane.
The gun that fired the bean bags hadn’t been used in 10 years.
The Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide.
What the Illinois State Police find in their investigation and what action the Prosecutor takes are of interest to me and I intend to follow up especially as it concerns the command structure within the Village of Park Forest Police Department.
Right now I suspect that dressing up a bunch of village cops in riot gear to go after a 95 year old man was a decision made by command.
Inappropriate violence & downright murder is almost endemic in the police forces of this country. One way it could get worse is if they let the psychs (psychiatrists) in to ‘fix’ the problem, as occured with the Post Office in the eighties, the colleges & the schools before & since. Now we are seeing a wave of violence from the military, not on the battlefield. You can bet psych drugs are involved.
One note of optimism… I’ve been working in Montana recently & have seen cops in action here be as polite & unassuming as I remember country bobbies in England during the sixties. But they still get their questions answered & the situation resolved. I’m sure there are exceptions, but it proves it can be done correctly.
I would be quite curios to hear the exculpatory arguments of the Officers involved because I can’t even think of a fanciful explanation that would make sense.
Stories like with this 95 yr old Vet are a horrible thing for Americans to see day after day.
It beats it into our heads don’t call the cops, don’t call the doctors, be afraid, be very afraid.
So what it does is harm the efforts of decent police & those of the medical community.
This can not be allowed to continue demoralizing everyone in the country no matter whatever their station in life is.
I’m with Crabby. I’m so OCD, I stopped reading after it became clear “urinary track” wasn’t a one-off typo.
Severe wrist slaps is the most these officers will face. It’s a lock. In these United States cops are licensed killers.
Thanks OS,
That looks to be a pretty fair site. I’ve saved it.
Oky1,
The World Life Expectancy group maintains a web page which aggregates data and maps cancer hot spots. The CDC has a link to maps, but warns they may be out of date. Here is the WLE map page, with many links:
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cancer-clusters-in-america
Joseph Rowe,
Google is your friend.