Family of Cary woman killed in crash awarded $1.27 million

The family of a 25-year-old Cary woman who was killed in a head-on collision in 2007 was awarded more than $1 million Thursday.

Sylvia Krawiec was traveling to work on Route 31 on Oct. 10, 2007, when authorities believe Lucinda Slensby of Crystal Lake fell asleep while driving her pickup truck and veered into oncoming traffic.

A jury deliberated for 2½ hours Thursday after a four-day trial and awarded the family of Krawiec $1.275 million.

The trial was based on damages only because Slensby, who was 67 at the time of the crash, admitted fault and pleaded guilty to failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision and improper lane usage. She was originally indicted on two counts of reckless homicide, but those charges were later dropped. One count alleged she had ingested alcohol while on medication. The second alleged that she suffers from sleep apnea, which made her too drowsy to drive at the time of the crash.

Prosecutors later said her blood-alcohol level was only .01, and an expert witness indicated the medication she was taking would not have affected her driving.

“The verdict demonstrates the substantial loss the Krawiec family suffered when they lost Sylvia,” said lead plaintiff’s attorney Patrick Salvi II. “Sylvia was a wonderful young woman, just months away from completing her nursing degree.”

During the criminal trial in May 2010, prosecutors said Krawiec was clearly at fault in the crash, but the evidence did not rise to the level of recklessness.

Krawiec is survived by her parents, Walter and Marolia, and her younger sister, Angie.