The person who fell several feet inside a Kankakee church this morning has died. Kankakee County Coroner Bob Gessner pronounced the person deceased at a local hospital this afternoon. Kankakee Fire Chief Bryan LaRoche tells us first responders were called to the First Church of the Nazarene on North Entrance Avenue just before 11:30 this morning to a report of someone who had fallen. When they arrived, they found a man who was suffering from severe trauma after falling approximately 35 feet onto church pews. Chief LaRoche says the person was a member of the church who was using a man lift to inspect damage from last week’s storm inside the sanctuary when it tipped over. Rescuers worked for about thirty minutes to free the man from the lift and damaged pews. A helicopter ambulance was called but the man’s condition did not allow for flight. He was then transported to a local hospital for treatment, where he later died. The person’s name has not yet been released.
For more local news, listen to today’s WVLI News Update with Rob West here: https://wvli927.com/2026/03/18/primary-election-results-and-post-storm-updates-in-kankakee-county-wednesday-march-18th-2026
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