Suit: Man ‘found in ditch’ after transport company ‘abandons’ him

A medical transportation company is being sued after a driver left a man being transferred between facilities at the wrong location in northwest suburban Des Plaines — leading him to be missing for three days.

The suit, filed on Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court by Theresa Bennett on behalf of Michael Bennett, seeks unspecified damages against JWS Transportation, Inc., and a driver for the company.

Michael Bennett was reported missing after he was last seen about 11 a.m. March 3 when he was being transported from Chicago Behavior Health Hospital in Des Plaines to a nursing home in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, according to a missing person alert from Illinois State Police.

Bennett was instead dropped off at the corner of Touhy Avenue and Maple Street in Des Plaines, state police said.

Michaele Bennett was found March 6 “laying in a ditch” about 11 miles from the nursing home he was supposed to have been taken to “having suffered serious injuries due to exposure,” according to the suit. Low temperatures for the three days he was missing were between 33 and 21 degrees.

The suit also alleges the driver waited until 3:10 p.m. the day he dropped off Bennett at the wrong location to report the “unauthorized drop off and abandonment.”

Both JWS Transportation and their driver are accused of negligence, according to court documents.

JWS Transportation did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

The suit also seeks to have Chicago Behavioral Hospital to turn over information related to the case in order to determine if additional defendants should be named.