Sheriff: No rules, policies broken in Kane County jail suicide
Authorities have concluded the Kane County jail staff did not violate procedures in the suicide of an Elgin man who hanged himself earlier this month after asking to use the restroom while being booked.
Sheriff Don Kramer said he's directed his staff to review all policies and procedures going forward to prevent a suicide similar to that of Piotr Dutkiewicz, 51, on Jan. 5.
"It's an unfortunate event, but we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen again," said Kramer, offering his condolences to Dutkiewicz's family.
According to the sheriff's office, Dutkiewicz was brought at 11:30 a.m. to the intake area of the jail where he was screened and cleared by the jail's medical staff.
Deputies called the Kane County state's attorney's office to authorize felony disorderly conduct charges against Dutkiewicz, who was accused of making a bomb threat during an eviction from an Elgin home. Dutkiewicz was in the general waiting area while authorities were preparing charging documents when he asked and was granted permission to use the bathroom.
"He was in the bathroom alone for approximately 17 minutes when corrections officers went to check on him. They had discovered he had attempted to hang himself using a string from his sweatpants," the sheriff's office said in a statement released Thursday.
Jail personnel began CPR and took Dutkiewicz to Delnor Hospital in Geneva where he was pronounced dead.
The sheriff's office reviewed the incident and determined no policies or procedures were violated.
Inmates being held in a jail cell are checked every 30 minutes and inmates in cells on suicide watch are checked even more frequently; Dutkiewicz had not yet been placed in a cell when he died.
Sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said the review is "ongoing" and authorities would have acted differently if they detected issues with Dutkiewicz.
"He was cooperative in the booking area. There weren't any problems," Gengler said. "It's extremely unfortunate what happened."