Crime & Safety
Slab Suffocation Victim's Husband Sues Landlord
A Niles man has sued owners of the house where his 77-year-old wife was crushed by stone slabs.
NILES, IL — The widower of a woman who was was crushed in her home by falling stone slabs filed a lawsuit against the owners of the Niles rental property where she died. Charles Sullivan filed the wrongful death case Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.
His wife, 77-year-old Mary Sullivan, died April 7 when two loose stone slabs fell on her in a stairwell of the house they shared. Charles discovered her at the bottom of the stairs, where she had been trapped and suffocated under the large pieces of tile, according to Niles police and the office of the Cook County Medical Examiner.
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Sullivan's suit said Teri Faron and Alicja Zalewski, the owners of the house he and his late wife rented in the 6900 block of Jarvis Street, were negligent in leaving the slabs loose against a wall the building.
The lawsuit—seeking more than $200,000 in damages—claims the landlords should have been aware the large, heavy pieces of stone were dangerous, and Sullivan had asked that they be removed or secured but they never were, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
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