South Side man 12th cold-related death

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Updated: March 25, 2011 9:31AM

An elderly man found unresponsive Feb. 4 outside his South Side home died in part because of the cold, marking at least the 12th cold-related death in Cook County this winter.

Fred Battle, 80, of the 7300 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue, was found unresponsive outside his home and pronounced dead at 11:52 a.m. Feb. 4 at University of Chicago Hospitals, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said.

Battle died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease, but cold exposure was a secondary cause of his death, according to an autopsy performed Tuesday. His death was ruled an accident.

The last cold death ­— La Grange resident Eugene Michalski, 82, — was recorded Feb. 5, according to the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy found Michalski died of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and cold exposure and ruled his death an accident.

Last winter season, 12 deaths in Cook County were attributed at least in part to cold.