Donations grow to support injured Bensenville cop who was shot 9 times
Donations continue to pour in to support injured Bensenville police officer Steven Kotlewski, who remains in intensive care after being shot Saturday.
As of midafternoon Tuesday, more than $115,000 had been collected through a GoFundMe page. The largest donation, $10,000, came from Bensenville-based business Victory Auto Wreckers, which is on Green Street not far from the Bensenville Police Department.
The page was set up by Ellie Murphy, Kotlewski's sister-in-law. In the latest update, she wrote that Kotlewski remains sedated and intubated. He underwent surgery on his left arm and right knee Monday, and he will have another surgery in a few days to repair his left knee.
She also wrote that he will be in a back brace for two months.
"On behalf of Crystal (Kotlewski's wife) and our entire family, we can't thank our friends, family, and community enough for their outpouring support during this tragedy," Murphy wrote. "We're so incredibly grateful for the number of donations coming in through the GoFundMe page set up for Steven.
"We're overwhelmed at the hundreds of messages coming in from friends, family, strangers, organizations, churches, mom groups, police departments, fire departments, charities, schools, retired law enforcement officers, restaurants, stores, and more all wanting to make donations to Steven's family."
Kotlewski was shot nine times responding to a call around 1 a.m. Saturday to an apartment on the 100 block of South York Road. Eight 9 mm bullets entered his legs, back and an arm. The ninth bullet lodged in his protective vest.
Kotlewski also fell down a stairwell and began crawling until fellow officers found him, applied tourniquets to his legs and took him to a fire station.
Both legs were broken, a femoral artery was severed, and his liver, colon, diaphragm and a kidney were damaged. He required a transfusion of 14 pints of blood and underwent eight hours of surgery later Saturday morning.
Kiante J. Tyler, 21, has been charged with attempted murder and is being held without bail in the DuPage County jail. Tyler's mother had called police to get Tyler to leave the apartment. According to a prosecutor's petition to deny bail, she told investigators Tyler had been acting "weird" the day before.
Tyler's mother and other relatives have said they believe he is mentally ill.
Kotlewski has been with the Bensenville Police Department 12 years.