Fire damages restaurant, salon
A restaurant and hair salon were damaged by a fire Sunday night in the Edgebrook neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
Firefighters responded about 8: 30 p. m. and found fire venting through the roof of The Elephant Thai Cuisine, 5348W. Devon, Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief John Shehan told reporters at the scene.
He said the blaze was “quickly extinguished.”
No injuries were reported, but the fire spread to two neighboring store fronts, Aqua Salon and a vacant store, Shehan said. Both the salon and the restaurant would be “shut down for a while” because of the damage. Sun-TimesWire
Boy, 16, dies after gym class at high school
A 16- year- old boy died Friday afternoon following gym class at southwest suburban Oswego East High School.
Around 1: 30 p. m. Friday, the Kane County coroner’s office was contacted by Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora about the death of Darion Verner, according to the Kane County coroner’s office.
Verner, of Montgomery, collapsed in the school’s locker room after playing basketball, the coroner’s office said. Witnesses said Verner went to the locker room following class and collapsed “for no apparent reason.”
There were no obvious signs of foul play detected in the preliminary investigation, the coroner’s office said. Tom Schuba
$ 875K for family of manwho choked to death at nursing home
A West Side nursing home agreed to an $ 875,000 settlement for the family of an elderly man who choked to death at the Wicker Park facility.
Antonio Mares choked to death on Nov. 9, 2012, after a nursing assistant at the Center Home for Hispanic Elderly, 1401 N. California, fed him food that did not comply with his physician’s diet orders, which called for mechanical- soft food only, according to a statement from the Levin & Perconti law firm, which represented Mares’ family, announcing the settlement Monday.
A certified nursing assistant who was assigned to assist Mares with his evening meal set up the food tray on his table, positioned him to begin eating then stepped away from the area, according to the lawsuit. Mares ate the food unsupervised and began to choke.
After realizing that Mares was choking, the nursing assistant unsuccessfully attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver, according to the lawsuit. He also used the call light to ask for help, but no one responded. Mares died after further life- saving efforts proved unsuccessful.
The Center for Hispanic Elderly did not immediately respond to request for comment. Tom Schuba
Metra to rehab 302more rail cars
Metra is starting a new round of rail car improvements.
Metra recently completed rehabilitation of 176 rail cars the rail service received between 1995 and 1998. The next 302 cars that are being rehabbed were delivered between 2002 and 2008.
Each rail car will get new seats, better air conditioning and electric outlets so passengers can power cellphones and other electronics. New LED signs will display announcements inside each car. New bathrooms and wheelchair lifts also will be installed. AP
Man impersonates cop, threatens woman with ticket to get number
A man impersonating a police officer approached a woman leaving a pizza place Friday night in southwest suburban Plainfield, asked for two forms of ID and then threatened to write a ticket if she didn’t give him her phone number.
Just before 10 p. m. the woman was leaving Little Caesars Pizza, 13327 S. Route 59, when a man wearing a police uniform with a gun and radio came up to her, according to a statement from Plainfield police.
The man identified himself as a Plainfield police officer and asked the woman for her identification, police said. When she got her driver’s license from her car, the man asked for a second form of a picture ID.
When the woman complied, he handed her the ID back and said he was going to write her a ticket, police said. She asked why, and he hedged but said he wouldn’t write a ticket if she gave him her phone number, police said.
The woman walked toward her car and drove off. The impersonator is a 6- foot, 200- pound white man in his 40s with short dark hair, police said. Francesca Gattuso