Chicago police officer Densey Cole was responding to a call the morning of May 27 when a car crossed the median and crashed into his vehicle, said Jim McMahon, a retired Chicago fireman and friend of Cole. Cole was immobile when a man came up to him, pushed him over and stole his gun and his wallet. Cole, a 16-year veteran of the Chicago police force, was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Cole and his wife Mary were married at a hospital in Hinsdale, Ill., in June. Cole checked into rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Denver, Co., in July, and has since regained limited movement in his limbs.
When Cole returned home in October from his therapy, his life had changed immeasurably.
Due to his paralysis, his home was virtually unusable. He couldn’t make it up the stairs to the front door and couldn’t get to the second floor of his house without intense assistance, McMahon said. He said Cole’s house needed to be retrofitted and he needed help from the city to foot the bill. A month later, McMahon said Cole is still nowhere closer to getting funding from the city.
“He wasn’t getting any returned calls from the city when he was in Colorado,” McMahon said. “He wasn’t really happy about that.”
Cole could not be reached for comment.
Donal Quinlan, spokesman for the Chicago City Council Committee on Finance, issued a statement that the committee is eager to honor its obligation in regard to Cole.
“In all instances where there has been a catastrophic injury to a police officer, we have modified their home and made it handicapped accessible,” Quinlan wrote in the statement.
Cole now lives in a condominium in Chicago waiting to be able to use his house again, McMahon said. Friends said no progress has been made by the city on retrofitting his house.
“His main complaint is that he can’t move back into his house,” he said. “He got injured in the line of duty, and usually the city is pretty good at coming through for people like that.
But I guess the mayor is just not as concerned with policemen and firemen as they were before.”
Messages left at Mayor Richard Daley’s office about the issue were not returned.
Anne Schaible, Cole’s neighbor, said he was an exceptional police officer and neighbor.
Schaible said her neighbor was unique because he was not only concerned about the city, but also made an effort to help solve community issues in his own neighborhood.
“We would do sweeps in the woods close to our house to stop underage kids from drinking alcohol,” Schaible said. “Not a lot of people are willing to do that so late at night.”
Quinlan wrote a member of the finance committee is in contact with a member of Cole’s rehabilitation team on nearly a daily basis.
“We have already ordered and paid for a handicapped accessible van specially designed for Officer Cole,” he wrote. “It will be promptly delivered to him as soon as the customized alterations are completed.”
But Cole still cannot move back into his house, McMahon said, and that is the real issue.
“That the city has still not make improvements to Cole’s house is “unbelievable,” Schaible said. “There should be no dime left unspent to help get that man what he deserves.”
