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.
I know my Daddy, USMC, Korea and Merchant Marine, Philippines, along with all my Uncles who served over in the European Theater along with all my family Vets from Pearl Harbor are rolling over in their graves at what is happening to this country!
And as far as the embedded video regarding the teen with the broken back tasered by cops – Just how the hell could a teen laying on the ground with a broken back be a threat to the point that cops need to taser him NINETEEN frickin’ times to “keep him from getting into traffic.”! HELLO!!!!!
These cops all SHOULD BE FIRED and never allowed to “defend the public” ever again! My God! Has this country simply gone insane??? Sounds like the good guys are losing and the Devil is dancing in the streets with joy at all this evil going around! Yo, people! This is America! We have rights, we also have responsibilities to PROTECT the old, infirm, innocent and disabled! AND BTW – the Medicare handbood states quite clearly on page 103 that “Medicare Beneficiaries are to be treated with dignity and respect at all times.” You people in the nursing homes need to respect the wishes of anyone LUCID enough to make their own decisions! Get over yourselves and do your jobs and respect the elderly! Or find another job!
AT his age, and because he was already in a senior facitlity, they should have talked the man into sense, or at least figured a way to restrain that didn’t hurt the man. Old people can be violent sometimes, but I would think the right thing to do would try talking to the man first. Sounds like they stormed him, like a swat team, which surely wasn’t necessary. And I gotta
agree that if this had been a citizen trying to control the older gentleman they would have gone to jail for it. This kind of thing creates ill will between citizens and police. You never know if a cop is good or bad. That’s sad. I send my sympath to the family. Surely there was a better way.
I have to wonder how a 95 year old man is a threat , What about freedom of choice if he had the mind to make a choice not to want to go to the hospital then this would be god give right making the choice of how he lives his life and dies…. why did the police not defuse the problem by allowing him his rights under the bill rights and the constipation using force of this kind at close range . Talk about a bad choice
ANYONE IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION who deals with elderly citizens/patients — KNOWS that URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS (UTI’s) cause dementia-like symptoms!!!!!!!!!!!! It can cause combativeness, memory loss, agitation, and disorientation. I’m sickened by this! Not only were the police to blame, but so was the nursing home!!! All he needed was antibiotics — good grief!!! It doesn’t take a hospital for that!!!! Thoroughly disgusted!
Idapearl, leave one more comment in the Leave a Reply box. When you do, it will show “Fill in your details below.” Scroll down beneath that and there are two boxes. Make sure you have NOT clicked either one. Then click Post Comment. I think after that the notices will stop.
omg, I am getting all these e-mails from this site and I don’t see where I requested this! What can I do? I am still appalled at this behavior. COMPLETELY AVOIDABLE.
I searched the web news regarding this case. It happened way back on July 27th. I can not even find the name of the perp or perps who shot him. They need to be taken out and frying panned until dead. Then their children tazed. Don’t taze me Bro!
Cops these days are the biggest cowards, bullies and brainless pu****s ever. In my childhood they atleast tried to talk you down to avoid such things (if you were white) Atleast these days they’re equal opportunity fascistic wussies.
I cannot believe this. Even if this guy was a ninja with throwing stars, he was 95 and living in an assisted living facility. He obviously needs some help performing his daily routines, what made a swat team need to use such force? This is just disgusting, they should all be tazed and fired!!! Such a sad story. This man obviously didn’t want medical attention, he probably figured at his age, just let nature take its course. Sickening!!
This is so blatantly wrong that it calls for a huge outpouring of outraged citizens, and a demand for the police department to undress and remove military gear and tactics, and to require the department to upscale (civilize) recruitment standards and training. The place and address, and telephone, etc. of the station, and the names of the officers should be posted, and large numbers of people should respond. If we care about these things then we should make it unmistakenly known—otherwise brutal tactics will continue to stealthily move into our nation.
I have been saying for a long time, that the rising incidents of police murdering dogs will finally get people out of their lethargy. It is hard to hear/believe that the murder of an old man, a veteran, should seem OK or acceptable. The police are not ” our friends” , not by a long shot.
Psychopaths with badges and guns minus a heart and a soul.
Miriam:
This was state-sanctioned nothing. This was a stupid act committed by a stupid cop and the only ones responsible are the responding officers and those who trained them and anyone who should recognized their unfitness for duty. Those held accountable should include the officers, the immediate superiors, and the chief of police. The highest level that blame could possibly rise to is the town’s mayor, but the Governor didn’t cause this and Obama isn’t responsible. Not for this one, anyways.
RTC, I agree individuals are responsible, but the increasing numbers of such incidents across the country with seemingly very little accountability on the part of police in ANY jurisdiction are what cause me to call such incidents state-sanctioned. And please don’t mistake me for an Obama-basher. This problem has been a long time in the making, longer than he has been in office. I think it’s a problem that feeds upon itself–one department sees another acquire tactical gear, then they want it, then comes the training for using such gear, officers begin to unconsciously consider themselves more military than police, and the ante continues to inch up and up with citizens paying the price. But until someone in a position of authority at some level makes an effort to contain it, yes, I’ll consider it state-sanctioned. Absence of action implies consent.
The man was 95. I think if he wants to decline treatment, he has earned that right. He was murdered! A horrible thing to happen to an elderly man. I’m ashamed at the state our countries government.
State-sanctioned murder, pure and simple.
THANK YOU OS. Gordons site isnt where i read the story. i added his site because it was the one updated. but again Ty i will no longer post links to his site.