Retired DuPage sheriff deputy killed in airport accident

During Michael Yates' 28 years as a DuPage County sheriff's deputy, his wife and three sons coped with the fear that any day could be the day when he wouldn't come home.

Yates worked as an officer on the street, as a detective and as a sniper on the SWAT team. He guarded dignitaries, such as former President George H.W. Bush, was part of a special Illinois crew sent to New Orleans in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and was an original member of the regional SWAT team with the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System's Weapons of Mass Destruction task force created after 9/11.

“It's what we knew,” Beth Mitchell Yates says about the dangers her husband faced. “We weren't overly worried unless we were watching the news and would see him on the SWAT team in real time.”

Saturday morning turned out to be the day he never made it back to his home in Carol Stream. Yates, 52, retired from law enforcement in June and took a job in November as a Southwest Airlines ramp agent, handling luggage at Chicago's Midway International Airport. He died of multiple injuries in a freakish accident before midnight when two luggage vehicles collided.

“Maybe I wouldn't be so shocked today if this hadn't happened on his other job,” says his widow, referring to his new job with the airline. “This was supposed to be his retirement gig, so the family could travel.”

The accident is under investigation.

“Our hearts go out to his family during this difficult time,” reads a statement from Southwest spokeswoman Melissa Ford. “Resources are on site to support our Southwest family at Midway.”

The father of Kiefer, 23, Keegan, 22, and Coble, 17, Yates attended graduation ceremonies last Saturday at Michigan Technological University, where Keegan got a degree in biomedical engineering before starting his doctoral studies at Virginia Tech. The year before, he saw Kiefer graduate from Northern Michigan University with a degree in mathematics. The couple's youngest son is a junior at Glenbard North High School.

Michael Yates was an avid reader. He named the family dog, Cooper, after James Fennimore Cooper, his favorite author. He left his copy of “American Sniper” next to the coffee pot on the night he died.

“He was a very intelligent man. He had a lot of different interests,” says DuPage County Sheriff's Maj. Anthony Romanelli, who commands the SWAT team on which Yates was a sharpshooter, known as a marksman observer, for more than two decades. “He was an excellent shot. That's a very critical position.”

Yates never needed to fire his rifle in action, but he was an expert hunter.

“My dad was and still is my Hero,” reads Saturday's post by his youngest son, Coble. “He taught Kiefer, Keegan and I, to live life to the fullest, to challenge ourselves. He was a master shot, great teacher and a loving father. He truly lived.”

Growing up in Glen Ellyn as the son of Jim and Shirley Yates and the older brother of Jonathan, Michael Yates didn't take a direct route to college.

“He was speedskating while the rest of us were in college,” his widow says. They met while she was a student at Northern Michigan University. “I was fulfilling a P.E. requirement and he was training at the Olympic training site,” she says.

Yates qualified for the Olympic Trials but fell short of making a U.S. Olympic team that boasted future gold-medalist Eric Heiden, Jim Yates recalls.

Going to school part time, Michael Yates took a decade to earn his associate degree from the College of DuPage. He went on to get his bachelor's degree from Aurora University.

He loved spending time with his family.

“He was always talking good about his boys and was proud of what they did,” Romanelli says.

“He was proud to say he drove his kids to all 48 (contiguous) states,” his wife says. Yates and his wife did fly to Florida in February to catch a Chicago Blackhawks game. He was looking forward to using his Southwest benefits to make more trips.

In addition to his public service as a police officer, Yates had a passion for taking care of people, his wife says.

“He helped anybody, whether he was on the job or not. If he saw a family who couldn't afford groceries, he'd bring food to their house,” she recalls. “If he took our dog out for a walk, he'd see if he could walk someone else's dog.”

“He was a good dude,” concludes Romanelli, who says the sheriff's department is mourning Yates' death. “He was very excited to start a new chapter in his life, and it's very sad to hear about his death.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.