Judge rules East Dundee fatal crash driver to stay in jail

An Elgin man whose bond was revoked this month while he awaited sentencing in a fatal crash into the side of a building must spend the holidays in jail, a Kane County judge ruled Friday.

Brian Poliarny has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated drunken driving in a Jan. 12 wreck at the Haegar Potteries building in East Dundee that killed a teenage friend and injured another.

Poliarny, 19, could be sentenced Jan. 3. He was jailed last week after he failed three drug and alcohol tests.

He tried to enroll in an in-patient treatment facility but was unable to on short notice, said David Kliment, the county's public defender.

Judge Grant Wegner denied a request to release Poliarny, despite a promise he would be closely supervised by his mother, Kliment said.

"I don't disagree with the judge's decision -- it makes sense," Kliment said. "While he's not getting treatment for his issues, he's in a place where he's safe."

Drug and alcohol tests administered Nov. 5 and 6 and Dec. 6 indicated Poliarny, of the 1000 block of Biltmore Drive, had consumed alcohol and marijuana, authorities said.

Prosecutors objected to the bid to let Poliarny go free before sentencing, in part because he failed so many tests, said Greg Sams, an assistant state's attorney.

Poliarny had faced a murder charge, an offense Wegner dropped in August after the judge ruled the teenager might have tried to brake before he hit the building.

Killed in the crash was Roman Pokorny, a 16-year-old junior at Dundee-Crown High School. Another teenage passenger and Poliarny also were seriously injured.