Hanna family still waits for results of investigations into death

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Lake County Coroner Artis Yancey

Updated: March 8, 2012 8:12AM

Nearly three months after the death of her son Darrin “Dagwood” Hanna, Gloria Carr is still waiting — and pressing — for answers.

Carr and other relatives are impatient for the results of various investigations into the Nov. 6 arrest of Hanna, 45, on charges of domestic battery, his consequent hospitalization and death a week later. While an investigation by the Lake County Coroner’s officer, including a final autopsy report and expert medical opinions by various forensic specialists, is complete, an investigation by the Illinois State Police Integrity Unit is not. State Police spokesman Monique Bond, who on Jan. 25 confirmed that the agency has “not completed our investigation,” did not return a call seeking an update on Monday.

Lake County Corner Artis Yancey said the state police are still logging interviews with health care professionals including nurses, doctors and EMTs who treated Hanna in the ambulance, ER and ICU, as well as police officers, and other witnesses. Those interviews are a critical factor in determining what led to Hanna’s death, Yancey said.

“It’s a matter of ruling out other situations so we can have a good, clear picture of what transpired,” Yancey said.

Carr and her family believe Hanna died from injuries, described by Yancey early on as “trauma,” he received at the hands of the police. They do not trust law enforcement to conduct an objective investigation.

“They’re looking for something else,” said Carr, a longtime North Chicago resident and employee of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. “They do not want to say murder. They do not want to say manslaughter. They’re trying to protect themselves. They’re all working together.”

Yancey, a former Waukegan police chief, said his office will generate a report from its investigation that will include information from state-conducted interviews of medical professionals. The state police will also issue a report on their findings. Results will first be provided to Hanna’s family, then be made public, possibly in a joint press conference, Yancey said.

Meanwhile, Hanna’s family and their attorneys have worked to publicize numerous allegations of excessive force against the North Chicago Police Department — through personal testimony, details of lawsuits, some settled by the city, and the showing of videos from the department’s own files.

North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham, acting under pressure, placed six of the officers involved in Hanna’s arrest on desk duty and suspended Police Chief Mike Newsome — with pay. He hired an independent investigator to conduct an internal investigation into the Hanna case and five other recent incidents of alleged excessive force and ordered procedural changes on the reporting of use of force. But a report on all incidents involving use of force in 2011, originally ordered for Feb. 1, will be delayed until Rockingham’s second pick for an interim chief of police, retired Chicago Police Department Assistant Superintendent James Jackson, has time to review information.