The expert at the heart of the prosecution case against a Park Forest police officer testified Wednesday that the veteran cop acted recklessly by firing five beanbag rounds from a shotgun at a 95-year-old man who later died, calling the decision “unreasonable and unnecessary.”
But on cross-examination, Francis R. Murphy, a former U.S. Secret Service supervisor, acknowledged that other possible options to subdue the knife-wielding elderly man all posed serious threats to his health.
Prosecutors rested their criminal case Wednesday against Officer Craig Taylor after calling six witnesses over two days. The defense started up with testimony from two of Taylor’s colleagues, who each said they feared for their lives as John Wrana Jr., a World War II veteran, refused to drop the knife.
Taylor, a Park Forest officer since 2004, is charged with a single count of reckless conduct. Associate Judge Luciano Panici, who is presiding over the bench trial at the Markham courthouse, will decide his fate.
With little dispute over what happened that night at Wrana’s retirement home in July 2013, the trial could hinge on competing testimony from experts on police tactics.
Murphy testified that the team of five officers who responded to a call of a threatening resident at Victory Centre needlessly escalated the situation by confronting Wrana, referring to it as “officer-created jeopardy.” Officers entered his room three times over a short period, he said.
“They didn’t start by giving it some cooling-off time,” Murphy said. “They kept going into his room and agitating him.”
Murphy said the officers should have used a ballistic shield to knock Wrana to the floor in order to disarm him.
“He was an old man,” Murphy said. “They had five police officers to take down this 5-5, 160-pound person.”
According to trial testimony, at least three of the officers were near 6 feet tall or taller and weighed in excess of 200 pounds each.
Murphy also disputed that Taylor faced an imminent threat when he opened fire, arguing the 2-foot-wide steel shield provided the officers protection if Wrana had tried to throw the knife.
But on cross-examination by Taylor’s attorney, Terry Ekl, Murphy acknowledged that Wrana could have been seriously injured if the officers had tried to use the 35-pound shield to overpower him. And even using pepper spray could have caused problems for the elderly man, he conceded. In separate testimony Wednesday, a Cook County assistant medical examiner testified Wrana had an enlarged heart.
Murphy also maintained that Taylor should have fired at Wrana’s arms, legs or buttocks rather than his chest. Photos displayed in court Wednesday showed two large welts on Wrana’s abdomen and another on the right side of his chest.
After the prosecution rested, the defense asked the judge to throw out the charges against Taylor, but Panici declined. In arguing their points, attorneys for both sides gave a glimpse of their likely closing arguments.
Tracy Stanker, another Taylor attorney, said the criminal charge rested on nothing more than the opinion of a paid prosecution expert witness.
“All the factual evidence clearly established that Craig Taylor acted reasonably under the circumstances,” she said.
But prosecutors said that Wrana was a “confused and scared and elderly gentleman,” not a threat to five armed police officers.
“This wasn’t some thug out on the street threatening police officers,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Clarissa Palermo. “This was an elderly gentleman alone in his room who just wanted to be left alone.”
Taylor’s attorneys began putting on their case Wednesday afternoon, calling two of the officers who responded to Wrana’s room with Taylor and witnessed what happened. Both said Taylor followed protocol when he shot the beanbag rounds — pausing for a few seconds between shots — after Wrana ignored orders to drop the knife.
“We were amazed that he was still standing (after the first round),” testified Park Forest Officer Charlie Hoskins, who said he initially thought he could talk Wrana into going to the hospital.
Taylor’s supervisor, Corporal Lloyd Elliot, testified that officers would have been justified in opening fire with a handgun after Wrana repeatedly threatened them with a knife with a 7-inch blade.
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“I thought deadly force was authorized, and we were using reasonable force under the circumstances,” he said.
Police were called to the retirement home after Wrana resisted efforts by staff and paramedics to take him to the hospital for a urine test and a psychiatric evaluation, striking one paramedic with his cane.
Moments after all five officers gathered outside Wrana’s apartment, police Cmdr. Michael Baugh led the way in carrying the shield. He fired a Taser, but the prongs missed. Taylor, who had been instructed by Baugh to use the beanbag rounds if the Taser didn’t work, then fired at Wrana until he dropped the knife — five rounds in all.
Wrana died five hours later after refusing an operation to stop the internal bleeding.
Twitter @SteveSchmadeke