Associated Press
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Cook County’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Nancy Jones, says test results show no evidence of dehydration in a runner who died in the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. But the ambulance crew that picked up the runner apparently got lost on the way to a hospital, authorities said.
Chad Schieber, 35, a Michigan police officer and father of three, collapsed during the Oct. 7 race. An autopsy blamed his death on a heart condition called mitral valve prolapse and ruled out heat stress.
Schieber’s family said he encountered at least one water station that had no water during the race.
Schieber collapsed while running about six blocks from the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. He was picked up from the marathon route by an ambulance crew from Niles, one of 30 suburban crews called to help when hundreds of runners were affected by the record-setting heat. The marathon was halted about 3 1/2 hours after its start.
Ambulance-crew members radioed Chicago dispatchers that Schieber was in full cardiac arrest and said they planned to take him to the UIC Medical Center, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said this week.
The ambulance crew drove a couple of blocks in the wrong direction, then flagged down a city ambulance and got directions, said Niles Fire Chief Barry Mueller.
But then they drove past the UIC Medical Center because they couldn’t find the emergency room entrance.
The ambulance ended up delivering Schieber to the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center on the West Side a few blocks away. Marathon officials declined to comment when contacted by he Associated Press on Wednesday.