Retired DuPage Deputy Dies in 'Freakish' Airport Accident

By AMIE SCHAENZER (Patch Staff)
Photo credit: Michael Yates obituary/Hultgren Funeral Home website

A 52-year-old retired DuPage County Sheriff’s Office deputy who grew up in Glen Ellyn died Saturday morning in a “freakish accident” involving two luggage vehicles that collided at Midway Airport, according to his obituary.

Michael Yates spent 28 years as a deputy in DuPage County where he worked as a detective, officer on the street and a sniper on the SWAT team, according to his obituary.

His job handling luggage at Chicago’s Midway International Airport “was supposed to be his retirement gig,” his wife, Beth Mitchell Yates, said.

“Maybe I wouldn’t be so shocked today if this hadn’t happened on his other job,” Yates said of her husband in his obituary.

Yates, a Carol Stream resident, was born in Elmhurst and grew up in Glen Ellyn. During his career as a deputy at the sheriff’s office, he guarded dignitaries, such as former President George H.W. Bush; was part of a special Illinois crew sent to New Orleans in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; and was an original member of the regional SWAT team with the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System’s Weapons of Mass Destruction task force created following 9/11, according to his obituary.

Yates retired from the sheriff’s office in June and started his job in November as a Southwest Airlines ramp agent, handling luggage at Midway.

The crash occurred just before midnight Friday when the luggage vehicle he was driving was involved in a collision with another vehicle, ABC 7 Chicago reports. He was ejectedfrom the vehicle and taken to Christ Hospital where he later died.

The circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation according to ABC 7 Chicago.

Yates is survived by his three sons Kiefer, 23, Keegan, 22, and Coble, 17, who is a junior at Glenbard North High School.

A visitation for Yates will be held on May 13, from 3 to 9 p.m. at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St. in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, May 14, at 11:00 a.m. at Gary United Methodist Church. Further services and interment will be held in Calumet, Mich.

The online obituary for Michael Yates has more information regarding his life.