Closing arguments wrapped up Friday in the bench trial for Park Forest Police Officer Craig Taylor, wh pleaded not guilty to a reckless conduct charge following the shooting of a 95-year-old World War II vet.
A Cook County judge will issue a verdict Feb. 6, determining whether Taylor used reasonable force when he shot John Wrana five times with a beanbag gun outside the Victory Centre assisted living facility in July 2013.
The incident unfolded on July 26, 2013, when prosecutors said staff members at the facility called police after Wrana became combative with emergency medical technicians trying to take him to the hospital for medical treatment.
Wrana was in an agitated state, prosecutors said, and held a long metal object that was later identified as a shoe horn. Wrana refused to cooperate with officers after several attempts to speak with him, and at one point Wrana grabbed a kitchen knife and yelled for the officers to leave.
Prosecutors said the officers ordered Wrana several times to drop the knife. When he didn't drop it, the commander on the scene deployed his Taser but its prongs failed to make contact.
As Wrana moved toward the officers, prosecutors said Taylor also ordered him to drop the knife. He then fired the beanbag rounds, striking Wrana in the torso from about six to eight feet away.
"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.
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Taylor's attorney, Terry Ekl, said Wrana was holding a knife and a metal shoehorn, which the officer initially mistook for a machete. Ekl claims Wrana made numerous threats that day, including one that he would "slit the throats of anyone who spoke against his wishes."
An expert witness for the defense testified Friday that deadly force would have been justified in the incident, but applauded the attempted use of a less-deadly force.
Taylor testified Thursday that he had no idea how old the man was at the time. He said he was supposed to be the second man in a so-called "stack" procedure, a backup for his commander.
"When I saw Mr. Wrana with that knife in his hand," Taylor said, "threatening to kill me and my fellow officers, I was afraid. I thought I had to do something."
He fired his less-lethal beanbag weapon five times, striking Wrana four times. Wrana later died from internal abdominal bleeding, officials said.
On Wednesday, an expert witnesses on police tactics testified Taylor's actions were unreasonable and unnecessary, arguing there was no imminent threat.
Wrana's family last summer filed a $5 million federal civil rights lawsuit alleging officers overreacted to the situation. They argued that given the decorated veteran's age and health, he posed no real threat to the officers. That suit has been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Before Taylor took the stand, Wrana’s family came forward to express their disappointment with the way defense attorneys have portrayed him in court.
“We are greatly saddened by the false statements disparaging our grandfather under the cloak of providing the best defense,” said Wrana’s grandson Tom Magnerson.
In particular, the family says they’re angry with Attorney Terry Ekl for saying that Wrana, after he was injured, told doctors he wanted to die.
Among the defense witnesses Thursday was Dr. Steven Salzman, the trauma surgeon who tried to treat Wrana.
He told the judge that there was no question he could have fixed the injuries from the beanbag gun, but repeatedly, his patient, who had a do not resuscitate order, told him to let him die.
“He did not want to die in the way that Park Forest police chose for him, but he did want to live with the dignity head for 95 years,” said Magnerson.
