Dead Man's Loved Ones Say Cops Wouldn't Do Well-Being Check
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A Tinley Park man was found dead inside his home Saturday morning and his loved ones said they had pleaded with police for days to check on him after the blizzard.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports that Karl Placek, 41, was found inside his home after his fiancée forced her way in through a window.
Because of Placek's age, Tinley Park police said they are treating his death as suspicious, but they said they don't suspect foul play.
They also said that the Placek's fiancée didn't ask for a well being check, they said she asked to get inside to get her kid's clothes.
Placek's loved ones told a completely different story.
Mark LaBedz, Placek's fiancee's brother, said they had tried to get police to go in to do a well-being check Friday night, but they wouldn't and simply left.
LaBedz said his sister had been in the hospital and, when she got out Friday night, they went over to Placek's house to check on him. They couldn't get inside, but LaBedz said he heard rattling noises inside, so they called police.
"Four of them showed up and looked around the house, said there was nothing they could do," LaBedz said.
He said officers would not go inside the home, even though he said he'd heard strange noises from the back bedroom.
"I heard the noises and it sounded like he could have been on the ground, shaking something," LaBedz said. "God forbid if he passed away in that back corner room, it's the Tinley Park Police Department's fault for not gaining entry. There was four police officers here yesterday."
LaBedz's wife said that what makes it worse was that she had called police on Thursday to do a well-being check on Placek.
Jackie LaBedz said she went to the police station on Friday to report the problem again, before calling police to the house again on Friday night.
She said she feels like she did everything in her power, and yet she was "totally ignored."
"And we were told if we went entered the house, we would be arrested for breaking and entering," Jackie LaBedz said.
LaBedz said there was an ambulance there the entire time and, now, he wonders if the police department's concern over a window might have cost Placek his life.
"Break a window. I'll pay for the window. Save the guys life," Mark LaBedz said.
While it's not clear if Placek's life could have been saved if someone had gotten into the house sooner, it is clear that he will be missed by those he leaves behind: a sister who could hardly stand because she was so distraught and other loved ones who must now come to grips with the sudden and untimely death of a 41-year-old man.
Placek's body has been taken to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. An autopsy should determine when and how he died.
