Posted on 03/20/2002 9:02:11 AM PST by nemo
March 20, 2002
BY FRANK MAIN, FRAN SPIELMAN AND ANDREW HERRMANN STAFF REPORTERS
Henry A. Wolk didn't like strangers.
He was 77 years old, lived in the same Northwest Side home since he was 2 and often spoke to visitors through a vestibule mail slot close to the floor.
This was the reclusive world that officer Donald J. Marquez walked into Monday night to arrest Wolk for failing to answer a housing court subpoena.
About 10 p.m., Marquez knocked on the door, then pleaded with Wolk to go peacefully. Finally, he broke down Wolk's apartment door with a sledgehammer. He was immediately greeted with gunfire, wounded and fell in the front vestibule. By the time it was over, both Wolk and the officer were dead.
"Officer Marquez was an honest, hard-working cop whose efforts made this city a safe place," Chicago police Supt. Terry Hillard said Tuesday, tears welling in his eyes. "He was another officer doing his job and tragically taken away from us."
Marquez and his partner were trying to arrest Wolk because he ignored a subpoena they served him Jan. 5 to appear in court for a housing case.
The plainclothes officers and an upstairs tenant spoke to Wolk through his apartment door for several minutes, urging him to give up.
"He made a comment to the neighbor that he was not going to go to court, no matter what," said Phil Cline, chief of detectives for the Chicago police.
Marquez, who identified himself as an officer, smashed Wolk's door and Wolk fired a handgun at Marquez, Cline said.
Marquez, 47, and a father of four, was shot three times in the chest and once in the head.
As the 20-year police veteran collapsed into a pool of blood near a pile of magazines outside Wolk's first-floor apartment in the 2400 block of North Avers, Marquez's partner and the tenant scrambled upstairs.
A gun battle raged for at least 10 minutes. No other officers were killed, but Wolk was found dead inside.
Cline said officers from the Grand Central District and the Special Operations Unit worked heroically under fire to remove Marquez from the house and put him into an ambulance that took him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Wolk fired a total of 10 shots and officers fired 24 at him, hitting him several times, authorities said. Police recovered two .22-caliber pistols they said Wolk had used; another .32-caliber handgun was found in his apartment, Cline said.
A neighbor, Jaime Rodriguez, 40, said he was returning from dinner and shopping with his family when he heard at least three shots from Wolk's home. Rodriguez, who said he was looking for a parking spot for his van, pulled around the block and crouched while he listened to the gun battle.
"There were six rapid shots, then I heard on the police radio, 'He is down, he is down; we have him now!" Rodriguez said.
Marquez, who was detailed to the Chicago corporation counsel's office several months ago, was responsible for serving subpoenas for people to appear in court. Marquez was not wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot, officials said.
The department policy is for officers on patrol or street duty to wear them, said John Thomas, first deputy superintendent. The department will review its policy on vests in light of Marquez's shooting, he said.
Marquez's job involved administrative work as well as the kind of enforcement duties he and his partner were carrying out Monday, Thomas said.
Earlier, they had arrested two other people for failing to respond to subpoenas, said Corporation Counsel Mara Georges.
"Don was the kind of police officer who dealt with his heart as well as his head," said his brother, Dan Marquez. "He was known as a compassionate officer even when making these kinds of arrests. He would bend over backwards to make sure there was no confrontation. But he did what the warrant said. He knew the situation could turn deadly. He was always prepared."
Wolk's case dates to July when the city found 29 violations of the housing code at his two-story brick home in the 2400 block of North Avers, records show. After neighbors complained to the city, inspectors found a rotting porch, missing stairs, missing gutters, torn siding, a collapsed porch and other dangers.
Wolk was fined $14,500 on Oct. 16. He failed to show up for six court hearings. On Jan. 15, a judge issued a "body attachment" calling for police to take him into custody and use force if necessary.
Ald. Vilma Colom (35th) said her office tried for more than a year to deal with Wolk. She said she tried to tell him about city programs that could have provided money for repairs.
"He wasn't very cooperative," she said. "He said we had no business telling him what he could or could not do. He wouldn't come out of the house."
Colom said she checked up on Wolk once, bringing him a fan.
"He grabbed it, said 'thank you' and slammed the door," she said. "It's sad."
Marvin Cruz, who owns other buildings in the neighborhood, said he offered Wolk $100,000 for the house and would let him live rent-free for the rest of his life.
At first, Wolk would only talk to Cruz through a mail slot in the door about a foot off the ground.
Cruz lay on the porch while Wolk crouched behind the storm door.
Eventually, he was allowed inside.
"It was a mess, with piles of paper. It smelled like old pizza," Cruz said.
Wolk was guarded, but Cruz eventually learned that he moved into the home when he was 2. After his parents died, they left Wolk the home.
He did not appear to have physical disabilities, Cruz said.
"I think it was more in the head," he said. "But this made me so sad. I was eating breakfast when I saw it on the news. My spoon just fell, and I started crying.
Cruz thought he and Wolk were close to a deal. He intends to continue with his plans to buy and rehab the property.
And when he sells the house, he plans to donate up to $50,000 to Marquez's widow, Maria, and the couple's four children.
"I don't want to make any money on this," Cruz said. "I just want a little good to come from this awful tragedy."
Hm. So you're basically suggesting that my house will sell for the same price regardless of what kind of neighborhood it's in. After all, the prospective buyers will pay no attention to anything beyond my property lines.... (Yeah, right.)
And that I have no legitimate recourse to ensure the quality of life in my neighborhood?
And that I have no right to complain if Joe next door decides to turn his house into a brothel, and the guy across the street to open a biker bar?
You're apparently pretending that being a member of a community does not involve a trade of property rights against community interests. Both sets of concerns are legitimate.
At just what level of urbanization does a person's right to peacefully enjoy his/her own property end? Do neighbors have a right to demand a specific color to the house? Do they have a right to selection of art work on the front of the house? Do they have a right to prohibit signs advocating something? All of these issues may "affect" their property values. So might fences and a number of other things such as a car in a state of disrepair a number of visitors at strange hours. Visitors of another race, religion or ethnic group etc may also adversely affect property values. for that matter ongoing contruction could adversely affect property values or a brood of children next door might affect your property values. I read nowhere of anyone offering him compensation for this state taking of his property rights. This is America with some clearly stated rights in our Bill of Rights and in most state constitutions. Unless or until I see some justification for such a housing court clearly stated as a limit to propeerty rights in one of the documents definig the powers of the state or federal government I submit this was and is a total travesty.
His contempt for his neighbors, for city codes, and for court orders led to the arrest warrant. Didn't you read the article?
Clearly you have a right to complain but you may or may not have a right to have the state take action against these people. If prostitution is illegal in your state then the state may enforce that law. If, however, Joe next door's wife and daughters decide they wish to entertain a number of gentlemen in their beds without charging the effect on you is the same but they have done nothing wrong. Likewise the regulation of commerce may well be within the purview of the state but if a member of an outlaw motorcycle club purchases the home accross the street and has his outlaw cronnies visting often there is nothing you could or should be able to do about it. Likewise if he wishes to paint swastika's on his own front door, errect a flagpole or a cross in his front yard you will without some very specific deed restrictions be SOL. I note that in order to be enforceable in civil courts these deed resrictions must be within state policy thus even though a deed restriction may mandate occupation only by caucaisons that would be unenforceable.
That kind of negates the whole concept of private property.
They didn't like his rotting porch, so they figured they'd smash in his door with a sledgehammer to make his property more presentable? Sorry, no sale.
Yep. Guess maybe we ought to just have the cops ignore every instance where someone ignores court orders and subpoenas.
Read it and spin it the way you want - I couldn't stop you from doing it anyways. Seems to me they were probably also upset about the court hearings and subpoenas he missed as well. As far as the concept of private property, should we also consider the concept of social responsibility - i.e., maintaining your house and property within certain health and safety standards?
Nah, forget that.
The old man should have been left alone to live out his life.
"Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.'' -- Frederick Douglass
Obviously not.
Some common sense would have saved the man his own life...next time, maybe.
Oops, there'll be no next time.
You start breaking down doors, sooner or later you're gonna get double-tapped. Lots of luck to buyer Cruz, that property is now the property of the government. I have no doubt that some friend of Carol Mosely-Brown will pick it up for $400 at a very private auction.
A couple of years ago one of my neighbors anonymously reported me because I had a small utility trailer parked beside my garage, behind a bush. In our neighborhood, the covenants and restrictions forbid RV's and trailers to be parked outside. When the neighborhood association representative knocked on my door to let me know I was in violation, I politely thanked him for bringing it to my attention and cussed under my breath as I moved the trailer into the garage. I didn't kill him.
Insults are the most graceless way of admitting you've lost an argument. Don't worry, I don't consider your assessment of my intellectual acumen to have much value. No offense is taken.
The old man let his placed go to sh*t,
Which is his prerogative. Perhaps he did not have enough money to fix the damage, and decided that he, at the age of 77, would have more to gain by keeping his money rather than paying for repairs which he would only be able to enjoy for a few years anyway.
wouldn't take GENEROUS offers of help from anyone,
There is such a thing as pride. Some people when they're down on their luck refuse to take handouts from anyone. The welfare mentality had not yet eroded his sense of self-worth.
And, according to Mr. Cruz, he was mulling an offer for his property.
pissed off his neighbors,
I wonder if his neighbors had done anything to anger him. I also wonder why his property was their business.
and then pulled out a gun
He owned a gun, as is his Constitutional right, and he drew it in defense of his own home. That's the essence of liberty.
and murdered a cop
He apparently killed the policeman in self-defense. If someone came through my door with a sledgehammer, badge or not, I would defend myself, my home and my family.
who was woing his job well!
Apparently he was doing his job as well as you spell. He smashed through an elderly man's door with a sledgehammer, when a city locksmith could have gotten in much less violently and provokingly. He also entered a potentially dangerous scene without using his bulletproof vest. If he had wanted to minimize the danger, he could have waited until the old man called for a delivery, pretended to be the deliveryman and taken the old man into custody while he was distracted. Bail bondsmen do that sort of thing all the time. If that was doing his job well, I wonder at what point you would consider anything any policeman ever does to be done poorly.
I'm glad the bastard is dead,
I'm amazed that you would take joy in the death of a confused and lonely old man. That says quite a bit about you as a person.
but I morn for the cop and his four children.
I feel sorry for both men, killed for no reason because some bureaucrat couldn't let well enough alone.
You are a disgrace.
I merely advocated one thing: the Godgiven right of property. The right of a man to be secure in his own home on his own property, despite what his neighbors say or some pencil-pushing bureaucrat with his hand in my pocket says. Standing up for freedom is hardly disgraceful.
Why exactly did you join this forum? It certainly wasn't to engage anyone in a rational debate.
I’ve got news for you, in a lot of places you cannot store more than 5 gallons of fuel in your garage, cannot unilaterally add a second storey to your home, cannot park a vehicle in your front yard, cannot raise chickens in your backyard, cannot raise goats in your back yard, cannot have more than 3 dogs, cannot have more than 3 rabbits, cannot have ham radio towers, cannot have any vehicles visible from the street that remain unmoved for more than 72 hours, cannot have weeds higher than 18 inches or a yard that is untended for more than one month, there are other things I haven’t mentioned and probably a bunch I don’t even know about.
Anyway, if you think that just because you shell out an obscene amount of dollars for a property that you can do whatever you want with it, you are mistaken.
In this case it was the government, and the government was expropriating Mr. Wolk's property.
You're talking about spin? Let's talk hard facts.
Why do you believe the government has the power to seize someone's property? At what point does that power begin? When the paint on your house begins to peel? When your porch loses a few boards? When your lawn becomes overgrown? When one window is broken? What is the standard? And who makes the decision to seize someone's property?
I spell quite well. Ever hear of a typo? I stand by everything I said. The old man murdered a cop who was doing his job. The old man had nothing but contempt for the law and his fellow citizens. Our democracy and the rule of law will not stand if we overlook such contempt.
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