Family of Businessman Killed By Bike Messenger Files Lawsuit

Corboy & Demetrio today filed a lawsuit on behalf of the estate of Keith P. Radloff, age 51, the Elgin-area resident who died after being pushed down the stairs at Union Station on December 15, 1999 by an employee of the Quicksilver Messenger Service. Mr. Radloff was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital later that night.

The messenger service employee, 24 year old Matthew Givens, was arrested and will be tried for first degree murder. Eyewitnesses say that before pushing Mr. Radloff down the steps, Givens stalked him for several blocks, shouting obscenities. Givens was also involved in an altercation with Mr. Radloff on the day before attacking him at Union Station.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, names the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Inc., as the defendant.

According to Robert J. Bingle, managing partner of the law firm, the lawsuit alleges that the company was negligent in several areas with regard to Givens, whose criminal background includes a 1994 conviction for aggravated stalking and home invasion and a 1995 conviction for intimidating a witness: (1) Quicksilver should never have hired and retained a person who it knew or should have known would exhibit criminally violent acts; (2) Quicksilver should never have hired and retained someone that was particularly unsuited to serve as a messenger because of the danger to the public; and (3) Quicksilver failed to properly investigate Givens' altercation with Mr. Radloff on December 14, 1999.

"This bike messenger should never have been employed by Quicksilver," said Bingle. "His history of violent acts should have been a clear warning to the company, but it ignored his record and put him out on the street. Quicksilver's ill-advised decision to hire Matthew Givens resulted in the death of a vital human being."

Mr. Radloff was a graduate of Elgin High School and Elgin Community College. He worked in Chicago for a division of Ameritech and as an independent contractor, setting up phone and computer systems for businesses around the area. Friends and neighbors described him as a friendly, thoughtful, helpful man who was always willing to help others. He leaves behind his wife, Janice, age 43, and their son, Kyle, age 5.