A Chicagoland police officer will not be charged for fatally shooting a man who ran at him with a chainsaw inside a St. Charles nursing home in December.
On Tuesday, authorities in western Illinois released bodycam video of 41-year-old Daniel H. Escalera firing up the dangerous power tool while surrounded by senior residents at River Glen of St. Charles. A 911 caller notified police that Escalera was entering the building with a chainsaw, according to Kane County prosecutors.
Cops spotted the suspect with the chainsaw and ordered him to put it down. Escalera instead yanked the tool’s pull-string and its blades started spinning.
An officer successfully knocked the suspect down with a blast from a taser, but Escalera sprung back to his feet and charged toward that cop. The officer fired two shots that missed their target, prosecutors said. The suspect collided with the policeman causing the chainsaw to fall to the floor.
Escalera was shot in the arm as he tried to flee. He then turned toward police acting as though he had a gun and was hit with a fatal fourth shot.
A toxicology report found Escalera had amphetamines, methamphetamines and a medication used to treat schizophrenia in his system when he died, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office. It’s unclear why the suspect, who lived in Indiana and had a criminal history, was inside the senior center.
“Based upon a review of the investigation and all evidence obtained, the St. Charles police officer had the reasonable belief that the deadly force he employed was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or other individuals,” prosecutors said in a statement.