Judge to decide if crash was accidental
Brian Poliarny didn't want to live because he didn't feel loved by one of his better friends.
The Elgin 18-year-old sprawled out on a friend's lawn on a soggy January morning, saying it didn't matter if he got run over by a car.
Two of his other friends walked Poliarny to his 1994 Mazda Protégé at about 4:30 a.m., and he grabbed the steering wheel -- screaming and growling.
Toni Szymanowski, his friend who was sitting in the back seat, asked him why he was speeding down the wrong lane along Elgin Avenue.
"It's fun and I can," Poliarny replied to her, she testified Thursday in a Kane County courtroom.
Soon, the car sped through a T intersection and slammed into a brick wall at the Haeger Potteries building in East Dundee.
The impact killed the front seat passenger, Roman Pokorny, a 16-year-old junior at Dundee Crown High School.
Szymanowski, her left leg broken in three places, began yelling at Poliarny, who was injured and mumbling in the driver's seat.
"I honestly thought he did it on purpose," she testified, adding she never felt Poliarny brake or slow down from at least 50 mph.
Tests showed Poliarny had a blood alcohol concentration of .121, which is over the legal threshold of .08, and marijuana in his system.
Prosecutors charged Poliarny with aggravated DUI and first-degree murder, arguing he was speeding in a 30 mph zone and didn't try to turn or brake.
Sgt. Craig Campbell, a Kane County accident re-constructor, estimated Poliarny was going at least 43 mph and there were no skid marks on the pavement or indentations in a gravel area next to the building that showed he tried to stop.
Prosecutor Greg Sams said Poliarny knew his actions could result in death or serious injury to his passengers.
"This is not a 'novel' approach by the state," Sams said, adding: "He used that car as the bullet that comes out of a firearm that we normally find in first-degree murder case."
Poliarny did not testify in the bench trial before Judge Grant Wegner.
Dave Kliment, public defender, said Poliarny was guilty of a drunken driving crash, nothing more. He said skid marks could have been washed away by the rain and investigators never checked the car's brakes.
"What we do know is he didn't do it on purpose," Kliment said. "He didn't say anytime in the car 'I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to kill you (two).'"
Kliment also attacked Szymanowski's statements, saying a police car video showed that she told officers that Poliarny came up behind a pick-up truck, it turned and he hit the brakes but couldn't stop. The videotape was not shown in open court.
The next day, she also told East Dundee Sgt. Larry Seyller that Poliarny hit the brakes.
Kliment also noted that Poliarny pleaded guilty to two felony aggravated DUI charges, one for the death of Pokorny and the other for injuring Szymanowski.
The most serious of those charges carries a three to 14-year prison sentence. The murder charge carries a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison.
Wegner is expected to rule this afternoon.