Coroner's office investigating death at Belleville facility

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Authorities are investigating after a wheelchair-bound woman was found dead near a staircase inside a Belleville nursing home.

St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone says Juanita Simmons died at Midwest Rehab and Respiratory. He says she was found Thursday morning in her wheelchair at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Stone says the coroner's office is investigating her death as accidental. An autopsy is scheduled Friday to determine Simmons' cause and manner of death.

Deputy Coroner Danny Haskenhof tells the Belleville News-Democrat (http://bit.ly/1HPOjAL ) that the investigation is the result of a fall at the home.

The vice president of operations for Integrity Communities, which operates Midwest Rehab, declined to comment to the newspaper.

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com