McHenry County Blog

A press release has come from the Crystal Lake Police Department concerning the morning activity on Uteg Street.  It follows:

On October 31, 2012, at 9:01 a.m., the Crystal Lake Police were contacted by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Dispatch Center concerning a troubled individual, who was believed to be calling from within the Crystal Lake City limits.

It was also reported that the caller was armed with a handgun and contemplating suicide.

Working in conjunction with DeKalb County Sheriff’s Dispatch, Crystal Lake Police were able to determine that the subject was visiting the home of a friend in the 200 block of Uteg Street, in Crystal Lake.

Due to the seriousness of this incident, the Crystal Lake Police Department’s Emergency Services Team was activated.  A 10-man response team began to assemble at the corner of Union and 2^nd Court.

Uniformed officers secured a perimeter surrounding the neighborhood to prevent anyone from entering the area.

Once the area was contained, Crystal Lake Police Negotiators made contact with the individual by cellular telephone.

The subject surrendered himself to Police without incident and he was subsequently transported to Woodstock Hospital for an evaluation.

His initial report of being armed was determined to be false.

No injuries were sustained to anyone involved in this incident.

The subject’s identity is not being released due to HIPPA Privacy Rules, which protect the privacy of individuals and any identifiable health issues or information.

A source tells McHenry County Blog that the Hampton Court Apartments on Uteg Street in Crystal Lake were the subject of a lot of police activity this morning.

There was a police blockade of the street.

A SWAT Team was out.

“There are tons of cops and cop vehicles all over the place,” my source emailed at 10:30.

“They have been congregating on Second Street since early morning.

“Uteg St is blocked off from Second to the end of the block on College.”

Elementary School District 47′s Donn Mendoza sent out this message at 11 AM, which seems related to the police activity on Uteg:

Dear District 47 Families:

Please be advised that District 47 was contacted directly at 10:05am today by the Crystal Lake Police Department and informed that they were dealing with a suspicious incident of significance close to the Burger King on Route 14 in Crystal Lake.

Upon hearing this, all District 47 schools were instructed to keep all students and staff indoors and to ensure that the common practice of securing and locking exterior doors remained in effect until further notice.

At 10:35 am, we were informed by the police department that the incident had been taken care of. All District 47 schools were then given approval to resume school activities as they normally would for the remainder of the day.

At 2 PM Crystal Lake Central High School Principal Steve Olson sent the following email:

I am writing to inform you of a situation near Crystal Lake Central that transpired this morning. Crystal Lake Police informed us of a situation in the neighborhood near CLC. Working with our school resource officer, we went into a “code yellow lockdown” while police worked to resolve the issue. In a “code yellow,” students are allowed to move between classes; however, no one is allowed to enter or exit the building. This morning’s situation was resolved by Crystal Lake Police quickly, and we believe that at no time were students in danger.

Please be aware that in the rare instance when situations like this arise, we normally send out an automated phone message and email. Today, however, the situation was resolved quicker than we could send out the automated call. Still, because we believe it is important to keep you informed of experiences that are out of the ordinary for your child, I am contacting you by email.

To ensure that you receive future automated emails and phone messages, please verify that your phone numbers and email address are correct in Skyward Family Access.

I prefer grade school district Superintendent Donn Mendozza’s approach.

Coroner Marlene Lantz confirmed today, “It was an apparent suicide.”

She also told me that it was a man.

The Crystal Lake Police Department again directed me to the Union Pacific Railroad and I ended up talking to the same media guy I conversed with Saturday, Mark Davis.

As he quickly read the UP report to himself I heard

• “north side of the road,”
• “trespassed sustained fatal injuries” and
• “relatives being notified.”

And, Davis told me local officials would have to release further details.

So I called Metra and got Meg Reile.

She told me more than anyone else has.

And her source seemed to be the Crystal Lake Police Department.

A woman was stopped on Sands Road looking for something in her bag.

She saw a man get out of a vehicle and walk toward the tracks.

The engineer repeatedly blew the train’s horn.

The man stood by the crossing waiting for the train to come.

He stepped in front of the train.

The woman said he “disappeared.”

The man seems to have been a resident of the south side of Crystal Lake.  Her was was 61 years old.

I’m not releasing the name of the man because I can’t see any purpose it would serve.

That’s a bit more than you could have read about the accident in my Saturday article, where there are more pictures.

As I was driving to Fox River Grove in mid-afternoon, a Crystal Lake Police Car was blocking Sands Road at Route 14.

On the way home, I drove from Route 14 to Sands Road via Smitana Raod, the one that cuts off 14 next to Country Gas.

Here’s what I saw:

Getting closer, here was the view:

From Sands Road, here is what was visible:

“Somebody walked in front of a train,” Metra Spokesman Tom Miller said.

It was the 709 train, which left Chicago at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.

The train was due at the Pingree Road Station at 3:48 in the afternoon. It left Cary five minutes earlier and had just crossed the Route 14 overpass.

A call to the Crystal Lake Police Department was referred to the Union Pacific Railroad.

UP Spokesman Mark Davis, out of Omaha, told me, “I wouldn’t have anything,” saying that local officials would release the information.

“We will provide peer support to the engineer and the train crew, if they need it.”

Crystal Lake’s most memorable “Death by Metra” occurred when Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano walked in front of the last train to Chicago from McHenry in May of 2009.

Given blanket coverage on Chicago electronic media, there were many copycat suicides in the following months.

A press release from the Crystal Lake Police Department:

Barricaded subject – Crystal Lake

On Friday, November 4, 2011 at approximately 10:19 AM, Crystal Lake Police responded to a residence in the 200 block of Peterson Parkway, where the occupant, with a history of depression, had been observed to have been in possession of a rifle.

Several attempts by officers to contact the subject were unsuccessful.

The Department’s Emergency Services Team was activated for the possible barricaded gunman, and a safety perimeter was established, restricting all pedestrian and vehicular traffic near the home.

After further attempts to contact the subject were also met with negative results, entry was made to the home.

Once inside, officers located the sole occupant of the residence, a 47 year old male, to be deceased, the apparent victim of suicide.

Further investigation into this matter is being conducted by the Crystal Lake Police Department’s Investigations Division and the McHenry County Coroner’s office.

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

INMATE SUICIDE CASE DISMISSED SECOND TIME

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that his Office has succeeded again in obtaining the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Michelle Smith of Crystal Lake, Illinois due to an in-custody suicide of her former husband, Ricky Smith.

Ms. Smith first sued the Sheriff and three corrections officers in Federal Court wherein the State’s Attorney’s Office obtained a dismissal in Defendant’s favor, and then most recently in State Court for wrongful death.

In making his ruling today dismissing the State Court lawsuit, the Honorable Judge Meyer found that the prior victory obtained by the State’s Attorney’s Office in Federal Court barred Ms. Smith’s wrongful death case in State Court.

The recently dismissed State case was defended by Assistant State’s Attorney Donald B. Leist.

Thomas Puchmelter hung himself in his McHenry County Jail cell last weekend.

While the Sheriff’s Office has not released much information. Daily Herald reporter Harry Hitzeman writes that a Freedom of Information request has been filed for the internal investigation report, which Undersheriff Andy Zinke says is not completed.

What struck my eye in the Daily Herald story was the following paragraph about an interview with his mother, an assault on whom led to his jailing:

She says Thomas was taking anti-anxiety medication and was probably mentally ill. She said her son went to prison in Joliet earlier in his life and was terrified of going back.

With all the correspondence I have received from men who have been raped in prison during my last six years in the Illinois General Assembly, please excuse me if I think such an experience might have been going through Thomas Puchmelter’s mind as he debated whether life in prison could be worse than death.

The following letter from Just Detention International Executive Director Lovisa Stannow about the U.S. Justice Department’s belated request (regulations were supposed to go into effect last July 1st, according to the law) for comments on its proposed rape in prison regulations provides up to date information:

Justice Department Confirms Appalling Human Rights Crisis: 216,600 Inmates Sexually Abused in One Year

At long last, yesterday the Department of Justice launched its 60-day public comment period on proposed national standards addressing sexual abuse in detention. In an extensive report, the Department also released, for the first time, its own estimate of the number of inmates who endured sexual abuse while behind bars in a one-year period: 216,600.

That’s right: 216,600. This number is a devastating confirmation of what JDI has claimed for years — sexual abuse in U.S. detention is a horrific, nationwide human rights crisis.

Let’s put 216,600 in perspective: almost 600 prisoners a day are subjected to rape and other forms of sexual abuse while in the government’s care.

Or, put differently, 25 inmates are abused every hour of every day.

That number reflects only the first time each person was victimized during a one-year period; the number of incidents of sexual abuse is several times higher, as many inmates are assaulted again and again.

Prisoner rape survivors continue to be locked up with their assailants, unable to escape — forced to live in constant fear of another attack, their trauma renewed every time they see their abusers. These are our fellow human beings; men, women, and children who one day will return home to their families and communities.

At JDI, we hope that these shocking numbers will, once and for all, force the corrections community to acknowledge the full extent of the crisis of sexual abuse and rally in favor of strong national standards to end it.

After an initial review, we can say that the revised standards contain both positive points — such as requiring staff to consider the factors that make someone more vulnerable to abuse when making housing decisions — as well as negative ones — such as allowing prison grievance policies to put harsh limits on how much time a survivor has after an assault to file a formal report.

As we continue our analysis of the standards, we will provide you with further updates and insights — and we encourage all of our supporters and allies to join us in providing feedback on the revised standards.

After the conclusion of the 60-day public comment period (March 24) the Department of Justice will review the input it has received and modify the measures before formalizing them as federal regulations. According to the press release accompanying the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Justice Department plans to complete this process before the end of 2011.

Thank you for helping us make sure that the Department of Justice and corrections facilities across the country take seriously their responsibility to end the sexual abuse of inmates.

Lovisa Stannow,
Executive Director

Another person has followed Metra Executive Phil Pagano’s example of how to end his life.

This time it was in Evanston.

This article says he didn’t succeed.

When it became public information that former Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano’s wife Barbara had filed bankruptcy, a reasonable question seemed to be

“Has the Metra Board made any filings in the Barbara Pagano bankruptcy case?”

In reply to my request for any filings in the Barbara Pagano bankruptcy case, Metra’s Freedom of Information Office Roman Gold replied,

“After performing a diligent search of Metra’s records, we have been unable to local any records responsive to your request.”

You may remember that I’ve been trying to get information about the suicide notes that Phil Pagano’s suicide notes.

I requested that McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren send me a copy of Pagano’s signature on one of the notes that he left for his family and any one word containing at least four letters.

You can speculate on why I might think those two elements might be of significance.

October 14th Assistant Public Access Counselor Matthew M. Sebek wrote Nygren’s Freedom of Information Officer Jan Weech a letter requesting that the Sheriff’s “Department provide us with a further explanation of its basis for withholding the subject record excerpts as exempt under Section 7(1)(c).”

You can read the entire letter below (click to enlarge):

Take a look at the headline in the Chicago Tribune about Sheriff Keith Nygren’s belated release of Al Jourdan’s 911 call about Phil Pagano’s possible suicide.

Then, take a look at the emphasis in the Northwest Herald’s headline.

Which do you think conveys the story better?

To look at other headlines on the story, including two internet versions from the Northwest Herald, look here.