CHICAGO – A 27-year-old man facing arson and murder charges in the death of a Chicago firefighter couldn’t attend his pretrial detention hearing Saturday after he was hospitalized with injuries officials said he suffered when he set fire to a building he was squatting in.
Sheaves Slate, of Chicago, was charged Friday with murder and arson after firefighter Michael Altman, 32, died Tuesday after battling a Rogers Park apartment fire the day before — a fire authorities now say Slate set. Altman succumbed to third-degree burns that covered 90% of his body after he fell through the floor of the apartment building, 1757 W. North Shore Ave., Cook County State’s Attorney Bonnie Greenstein said in court Saturday.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not yet ruled on Altman’s cause of death, according to medical examiner’s data. A spokesperson for the office was not immediately available.
Slate set the building on fire after arguing with two tenants around 11:30 a.m March 16, Greenstein said. He was living in the building illegally and admitted to police that he set the fire, she said.
The fire was struck out about 1:15 p.m. March 16, according to the Fire Department.
Judge John Hock continued the Saturday afternoon hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, 2650 S. California Ave., because of a finding of physical incapacity. He rescheduled Slate’s court appearance for 11:30 a.m. Monday. Slate also is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday and Wednesday in two separate retail theft cases. He will also face a failure to appear charge Tuesday in connection with his first theft case.
More details surrounding Slate’s background and the March 16 fire will be revealed at next week’s hearing on the murder and arson case, Greenstein said in court.
Dozens of firefighters packed the courtroom Saturday to honor Altman. Patrick Cleary, president of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, said Altman’s colleagues would be back for Slate’s Monday hearing.
“As usual, we support our brothers and sisters,” Cleary said. “Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of tragedies over the past couple of years, and so we have to support families. That’s what we’re all about.”
Altman, 32, was the fourth generation in his family to work in the department. Altman’s grandfather, Edward P. Altman, was the Fire Department commissioner from 1996 to 1999 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. He was married and had a young son, with a baby on the way.
Altman, who worked for Truck 47 in Edgewater, was searching the building when he fell through the floor into a basement room that was “fully on fire,” according to an online fundraiser for his family.
“This has been an incredibly difficult week for the family of Firefighter/EMT Michael Altman and our family here at the Chicago Fire Department,” Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said in a statement Friday. “While no outcome can undo the devastating loss the Altman family, his CFD family, friends and the city have suffered, this development is an important step toward justice.”
Visitation for Altman is set for 3-8 p.m. March 26 at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel, 7740 S. Western Ave. His funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 27 at St. Rita.
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