Bodycam video shows St. Charles police fatally shooting chainsaw-wielding man at senior home
The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office is not pursuing criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting.
Bodycam video captured the deadly police shooting in St. Charles, Illinois that killed Daniel H. Escalera as he wielded a chainsaw at a senior home.
ST. CHARLES, Ill. (WLS) — Authorities released bodycam video of a deadly west suburban police shooting that happened back in December.
Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie L. Mosser announced Tuesday that her office will not pursue criminal charges against the St. Charles police officers involved in the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Daniel H. Escalera.
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An investigation determined that a 911 caller reported seeing Escalera wielding a chainsaw while entering River Glen of St. Charles, a senior living facility, on Dec. 1, the state’s attorney’s office said.
The first officer to arrive on the scene encountered Escalera, who was near multiple residents, inside at the doorway to the facility’s cafeteria.
Video shows the officer displaying his Taser and demanding that Escalera drop the chainsaw. Instead, Escalera entered the cafeteria and started the chainsaw.
The officer then deployed his Taser, striking Escalera in the chest. The Taser briefly knocked Escalera down he got back up, grabbed the chainsaw, and ran toward the officer.
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The officer ran into the lobby, and he and a second officer returned to the cafeteria. A third officer followed Escalera through a secondary doorway of the cafeteria and eventually back into the lobby.
That’s where Escalera held the chainsaw over his head and charged toward an officer. The officer fired two shots, which missed Escalera. Escalera then collided with the officer, striking him with the chainsaw and dropping it. The officer fired a third shot as Escalera fled toward a hallway, hitting him in the arm.
Once he reached the hallway, Escalera stopped to the right of an elderly resident in a wheelchair, turned toward the officers, and held his hands forward in a position which appeared to imitate holding a gun.
The officer fired a fourth shot, striking Escalera in the chest. Escalera immediately collapsed to the floor. Officers handcuffed him before providing medical treatment.
Paramedics arrived and transported Escalera to Delnor Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Kane County Coroner’s Office said Escalera, who died from the gunshot wounds he suffered, also had methamphetamine intoxication. Toxicology reports showed amphetamines, methamphetamines, and olanzapine in Escalera’s system.
Escalera was from west central Indiana, and police never determined a connection between him and the home. He did have a lengthy criminal history.
The state’s attorney’s office said the St. Charles Police officer who fired shots had “the reasonable belief that the deadly force he employed was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or other individuals.” The office found no wrongdoing on the part of the officers involved.
Illinois State Police provided Escalera’s family the opportunity to review the video before its release to the public, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Body camera video shows officers shooting chainsaw-wielding man in nursing home in St. Charles, Illinois
By Todd Feurer
Updated on: March 18, 2025 / 4:14 PM CDT / CBS Chicago
Police officers who shot and killed a man who was wielding a chainsaw inside a seniors’ assisted living center in St. Charles, Illinois, in December will not face any criminal charges, Kane County prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
Daniel H. Escalera, of Stockwell, Indiana, was shot and killed by police at the River Glen of St. Charles assisted living facility on Dec. 1, 2024.
Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser’s office reviewed an Illinois State Police investigation of the shooting, and announced Tuesday that the shooting was justified, and none of the officers involved will face any criminal charges.
Body camera footage released by Mosser’s office shows St. Charles police officers confronting Escalera inside the lobby and cafeteria of the building.
The first officer who arrived on the scene pointed a Taser at Escalera as he is trying to start the chainsaw, and repeatedly telling him to drop it.
Escalera apparently was trying to find his wife, and could be heard saying, “Where is she?”
“I just want my wife, man,” Escalera said while repeatedly pulling on the chainsaw’s cord.
After successfully starting up the chainsaw, an officer fired a Taser into his chest, knocking him to the ground in the facility’s cafeteria, just feet away from two people sitting at a table.
Escalera then quickly got back on his feet and lunged toward the officer, who backed up into the lobby.
As more officers arrived inside the facility, Escalera moved into the lobby and raised the chainsaw over his head before charging at one of the officers. That officer fired two shots, which missed Escalera, who then collided with the officer, struck him with the chainsaw and dropped the chainsaw, police said. Mosser’s office said that officer then shot Escalera in the arm after he dropped the chainsaw.
Escalera continued running into a nearby hallway, and one of the officers shot him in the chest while he was standing just inches away from a person in a wheelchair.
On the video, Escalera falls to the ground after being shot and officers can then be seen handcuffing him and providing first aid while calling for paramedics. Mosser’s office said Escalera was taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy determined Escalera died of multiple gunshot wounds. He also was diagnosed with methamphetamine intoxication. Mosser’s office said toxicology reports showed he had amphetamines, methamphetamines, and olanzapine in his system. Olanzapine is a medication used to treat schizophrenia.
Mosser’s office said, based on the video and other evidence, prosecutors “found no wrongdoing on the part of the officers” and closed the investigation without any charges against the officers.
“I first want to thank the St. Charles police officers for acting to de-escalate the situations before being forced to resort to the deadly use of force,” Mosser said in a statement. “After a comprehensive and thorough review of the investigation into this tragic incident, it is clear that the officers here acted in accordance with both department policy and Illinois law. The evidence demonstrates that his actions were appropriate and justified in the circumstances.”
Police have said Escalera had no ties to the area or the senior living center and had no previous encounters with St. Charles police. His reason for being in St. Charles is unknown.
“They tortured him”; police used Taser on special needs teen for breaking window before shooting him
By Dave Savini
November 12, 2023 / 10:24 PM CST / CBS Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) — It was a broken window complaint that led to a 14-year-old boy being shot by a police officer.
But before being shot, the teen had been repeatedly tasered. The intense pain caused the teen to run.
Dave Savini and the CBS 2 Investigators reveal a disturbing trend of who officers are more likely to use Tasers on.
“My man I’m going to tell you something here…”
The 14-year-old boy scratching his head and the girl next to him was being questioned by Sauk Village police about a broken window.
Officer: “Do me a favor keep, keep your hands out of your pockets bro. Just keep your hands out of your pockets.”
Boy: “We’re coming out here to see friends.”
Officer: “You’re coming out here to see friends? Okay.”
Things escalated quickly. The teen was shocked repeatedly with an electroshock weapon – a Taser delivering voltage and an electrical discharge causing an immense amount of pain.
“This kid did not deserve what they dished out,” said Bettina Washington, the boy’s legal guardian.
Washington calls the boy her son. CBS 2 showed her body camera footage that had been kept secret for a year and a half. A chilling sound that lasted for 11 seconds.
“Why did he do that?” she said crying.
Lisa Thurau has studied the misuse of Tasers on children around the country as director of the nonprofit, Strategies for Youth.
“Each time I see something like this, after doing this for so long, I am still outraged, terrified, and revolted. I feel for this kid,” she said.
Her organization works with law enforcement and kids, by helping to create policies and training programs to avoid situations like this.
“This is what I call use of force for officer expedience,” Thurau said. “No, that is not why you use force with anybody. You don’t do it so that you can punish or cause them pain. You don’t do it to subjugate them and teach them their place. You don’t do it because you don’t feel like running. That’s not what an officer uses force for. That’s not an acceptable justifiable use of force under any legal framework in the United States.”
There are two settings for Officer Seth Brown’s Taser; one setting shoots darts connected to wires, penetrating skin to immobilize a person. The other setting is called Drive Stun Mode, where the device is directly pressed against a person like a cattle prod. Brown was seen pressing his into the teen’s clothing.
“He said he felt like he was getting electrocuted,” Washington said.
“To do the Drive Stun Mode, even though it was through the young man’s clothes, is especially bothersome, because that is done to cause pain. Pain compliance, and the use of pain to get young people to comply, is just wrong, especially for a broken window,” Thurau said.
Thurau’s nationwide examination of decades of lawsuits involving Tasers, also called “Conducted Electrical Weapons,” found the devices were used on a disproportionate number of children of color and children with disabilities.
Washington says her son fits that description and attends a specialized school.
“A 14-year-old. A special needs 14-year-old, who has disorders, who do not understand what is going on,” she said.
Thurau: “Without understanding the lethal and sometimes long-term consequences of Tasers, you’re putting a whole lot of kids at risk, and you’re not giving officers what they need; which is policies, training, and guidance about the risk of this kind of weapon on kids.”
Savini: “Is there any kind of uniformity for Taser incidents to be tracked?
Thurau: “Regrettably, there is no uniformity, no consistency in data collection within states, across states, between departments. It is highly problematic, so we don’t know how often Tasers are used, know when they are used on kids. We don’t know what the outcomes are.”
Thurau pointed to other cases of Tasers she says were wrongly deployed on children, including an 11-year-old girl in Cincinnati who was suspected of shoplifting, and a 16-year-old in Florida who was simply waiting for his girlfriend at her backdoor. He fell and smashed his head.
Back in Sauk Village things are about to escalate even more.
“He was treated like an animal,” Washington said.
As her son got away from the Taser, he started to sprint. At that point, his encounter with police became nearly fatal. The other officer, Sergeant Scott Langan, drew his gun from his holster, aimed it, and fired – shooting the teen just below his belt on his hip.
Fearing he might get shot again, he hid in a nearby yard, bleeding.
Washington: “They tortured that 14-year-old kid. They tortured him.”
Savini: “He thought they were going to kill him?”
Washington: “He said he thought they was going to find him and kill him.”
When paramedics arrived, the 8th grader came out of hiding for medical help and was taken to a hospital.
Days later, Sergeant Langan told officials investigating his actions that the shooting was an accident and he thought he was firing his Taser.
“He has to live with those bruises from getting tased the rest of his life. The gunshot wound. He has to live with that,” Washington said crying.
Bettina Washington is upset that neither officer was charged for their role in injuring the teen, and she’s also upset to learn a police disciplinary investigation into the incident didn’t even begin until last month – a year and a half after the teen was tasered and shot.
