Almost $8M awarded in settlements for nurse hostage incident in Geneva

GENEVA – A nurse at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital who was held hostage and terrorized by a jail inmate last year was awarded $7.2 million in a settlement with Kane County, according to documents released through the Freedom of Information Act.

Identified in documents as Jane Doe II and John Doe II, she was the second nurse taken hostage by Tywon Salters on May 13, 2017.

Salters had taken the weapon from a corrections officer who was guarding him, held the second nurse for hours, sexually assaulted her, beat her and threatened to kill her before a Kane County SWAT team broke into the room and shot and killed him, according to court documents and an Illinois State Police report on the shooting.

A nurse and her husband identified as Jane Doe I and John Doe I also were awarded $650,000, according to Kane County documents.

A nurse and her husband identified as Jane Doe III and John Doe III, and another nurse identified as Jane Doe IV, were awarded $25,000, documents show.

The Travelers Indemnity Co. paid most of the estimated $8 million in settlements, documents show.

The insurance company asked the Kane County Board to contribute $200,000 as its deductible, according to a Kane County Board resolution passed Nov. 13, records show.

The settlements release Kane County, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office and corrections officer Shawn Loomis from all liabilities stemming from the hostage incident.

The settlements also have the nurses and their husbands agree to dismiss their federal lawsuit, and for all parties to bear their own costs and attorney fees.

All parties agreed not to disclose the fact that the lawsuit was settled unless asked. The settlements stated what an appropriate response would have be: “This matter has been dismissed with prejudice pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement and the terms of the settlement agreement are confidential.”

The Kane County sheriff was asked to respond with: “On advice of the state’s attorney, I cannot comment on the litigation,” according to the settlement documents.

The nurses and husbands included in the settlements were allowed to disclose information to medical or mental health care providers, according to the settlement documents.

The nurses and their husbands acknowledged that the settlements are not an admission of liability on the part of the county, according to the documents.

Payments by the insurer were made Nov. 9 to their attorneys, according to the settlement agreements.

According to federal court documents, the names of the nurses and their husbands were permitted to be redacted to protect their privacy.

The inmate, Salters, 21, was at Delnor recovering from surgery.