26 May, 2017
Two nurses have filed a federal lawsuit against Kane County authorities, alleging they were beaten and one was raped after a sheriff's officer allowed an inmate to grab his gun and take hostages at Delnor Hospital, while the officer hid in another room. After his gun was taken, the officer ran down the hallway into another room and made no effort to help, Sean Murray, a lawyer representing the two nurses, told reporters this week.
The lawsuit also names the hospital's security company as a defendant. The incident occurred May 13, when inmate Tywon Salters was at the hospital for surgery.
"The conduct that led up to this occurrence is unacceptable", the release stated.
Kane County Sheriff's Office spokesman Pat Gengler referred all questions about the incident to the Kane County State's Attorney Office.
In accordance with Illinois law, once state police finish their end of the investigation, they'll turn over findings to the state's attorney's office, which will determine whether deadly force was appropriate, Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley said. When another nurse walked in, he allegedly took her hostage, forced her into a decontamination room, forced her to undress, and held her at gunpoint for more than three hours, while repeatedly beating and raping her at gunpoint.
Both the SWAT officer who fired the shot that killed Salters and the corrections officer who was disarmed were placed on paid administrative leave, per protocol.
He was admitted to Delnor on May 8 to have the sandal surgically removed from his stomach and was still recovering on May 13.
"He had demonstrated a pattern of manipulative and deceptive behavior". "With all of these different things going on, that should have triggered some sort of heightened protocol within the Kane County Sheriff's system while detaining Mr. Salters at the hospital".
The nurses' lawyers said they never should have been harmed, because Salters should have remained shackled and guarded at all times while at the hospital.
That's when attorneys say Salters managed to gain control of the officer's gun and begin his attempt at an escape.
The guard was identified in the lawsuit as Shawn Loomis. "He took her vehicle keys and cellphone". He held her at gunpoint, threatened her, forced her to remove her clothes, and verbally and physically abused her, according to the lawsuit. "This went on for several minutes".
A SWAT team entered the area where Salters held his hostage and one of the officers shot him, the state's attorney's office said.
Neither nurse was present during a press conference Wednesday morning at the law offices of Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC.
"She convinced Mr. Salters to let her use the phone; she used the phone to call downstairs to warn other hospital employees of what was going on", Murray said. "She warned them that he had a gun".
"The officer had his weapon taken and that weapon was used (to hold someone) hostage", he told the newspaper.
Salters asked a judge to lower that amount, but his bond reduction motion was denied March 27, according to court records.
The lawsuit alleges Salters was a known "high security risk", yet one officer assigned to him was found sleeping and another unshackled him.
