Lawsuit: Kane County jail authorities ignored Elgin man's suicidal statements
A federal lawsuit argues Kane County jail staff members ignored warning signs and suicidal statements from an Elgin man who later hung himself in January 2016 after asking to use the restroom.
Piotr Dutkiewicz, 51, threatened "suicide by cop" before his arrest on Jan. 5, 2016 while being evicted from his residence on the 600 block of Forest Avenue, in which he claimed a battery he was holding was really a bomb, according to the lawsuit.
Dutkiewicz later told a supervisor and a deputy who spoke Polish while being taken to the jail that he planned kill himself, the lawsuit argues.
Dutkiewicz used a string from his sweatpants to hang himself from a coat hook in the restroom while being booked at the jail.
An internal investigation did not fault jail staff and Sheriff Don Kramer said days afterward that Dukiewicz's death was "an unfortunate event, but we're going to do everything within our power to make sure that doesn't happen again."
The lawsuit, filed by Halina Slodkiewicz, who is described as his "next friend" who lived with Dutkiewicz for 24 years in Ohio, New York, Louisiana and Kane County, seeks $5 million in damages and attorney fees.
The lawsuit argues the jail staff did not allow Dutkiewicz to use a razor, but allowed him to go to the restroom with the sweatpants string, a potentially lethal weapon.
The defendants "consciously disregarded this serious risk by permitting Piotr to go to the restroom while wearing a rope around his pants and then permitting him to remain by himself for 18 minutes."
Lt. Pat Gengler, spokesman for the Kane County sheriff's office, declined to comment, citing department policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.
The suit over Dutkiewicz' death is the latest filed against the sheriff's department and Kane County over three jail suicides since June 2012.
Keith Renfroe Jr., a 20-year-old from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, who had recently moved to Gilberts, strangled himself in a cell after an arrest and despite being on suicide watch. His relatives sued, but the lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality.
Terry Ann Hart, 52, of South Elgin, hung herself in August 2013 while awaiting sentencing on a conviction for a domestic matter. Hart's heirs have sued, arguing Hart was denied her legally prescribed medication by jail staff members, who later tried to cover up evidence that she warned the staff she was having problems dealing without her medication. That case is pending.