Widow sues over Des Plaines swan attack drowning
The widow of a Villa Park man who drowned after a nesting swan attacked him and caused his kayak to overturn has filed a wrongful-death suit against the owners of the condominium complex near Des Plaines.
Anthony Hensley, 37, died April 14, 2012, while kayaking in a retention bond at the Bay Colony Condominiums in the 9500 block of Bay Colony Road, near the intersection of Golf Road and I-294 in unincorporated Maine Township.
The father of two worked for Knox Swan and Dog, a North Barrington company that supplies mute swans to help keep geese away from housing complex ponds and lakes. Cook County sheriff's police said Hensley was checking on the swans that Saturday morning when one of them attacked him, causing him to fall into the water and drown.
Amy Hensley filed a wrongful-death suit against Hillcrest Property Management Inc., Bay Colony properties, and Bay Colony condo and homeowners associations claiming negligence led to her husband's death, court records show. Knox Swan and Dog is not part of the suit.
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found no workplace violations in Hensley's death.
In her lawsuit, Amy Hensley states the property managers and homeowners associations should have known mute swans are aggressive, territorial and tend to attack. The court the filing claims male swans, which typically weigh between 24 and 26 pounds, have wings strong enough to break a man's leg. They attack by biting victims and "smashing" them with the bony spurs in their wings.
Hensley's suit seeks a minimum of $50,000 in damages.