Thanks for saving my Tax Dollars

**Pedro56** · 01-30-07, 04:37 PM

County inmate hangs self
Was in solitary confinement for having a knife

January 29, 2007
BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA Staff Reporter

A Cook County Jail inmate was found hanged in his cell at 3:15 a.m. Sunday -- a week after being put in disciplinary segregation for possessing a shank.

Edward Smith, 37, most recently of Tinley Park, was found by a correctional officer hanging from a noose fashioned from his bed sheet, according to Cook County sheriff's spokeswoman Sally Daly. A suicide note lay near his body.

The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled his death a suicide, but a motive has not been determined. The contents of the suicide note were not available.

Accused of fatal stabbing

Smith had just been segregated from the general population in Division 9 -- the facility for maximum-security detainees -- for having a shank, or homemade knife.

Daly said a correctional officer had seen Smith alive in the solitary cell about an hour before he was discovered dead by an officer delivering breakfast trays.

Smith was in jail awaiting trial for the murder of 27-year-old Vicky Kowal, who was chased down and stabbed to death with a kitchen knife as she walked near her home last June.

Kowal's murder drew headlines because Smith -- whom neighbors had described as a frequently erratic "nut case" -- was disarmed by an off-duty policeman working in his garage hours after being promoted to the rank of captain.

The officer, Gerard Carroll, apprehended Smith after telling him, "You don't bring a knife to a gunfight."

ecepeda@suntimes.com

**osugirlP103** · 01-30-07, 04:44 PM

he got what he needed, sounds like someone is getting an extra egg for breakfast

**bird1** · 01-30-07, 04:54 PM

oh! well!

**keith720** · 01-30-07, 05:27 PM

The bad part is that some Corrections officer is going to be called on ther carpet for not finding him sooner, and the dirtbags family will try to sue the county for depriving them of this POS. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

**Just KC** · 01-30-07, 05:34 PM

Probably first time he did something RIGHT in his life!

**lynnz05** · 01-30-07, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by keith758

The bad part is that some Corrections officer is going to be called on ther carpet for not finding him sooner, and the dirtbags family will try to sue the county for depriving them of this POS. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

My thoughts exactly.

**armygrnt502** · 01-30-07, 06:08 PM

How true...now lets get the rest of the ones that are like him to do the same and our national debt would dissapear in no time with the money we would save.