Des Plaines man pleads guilty to leaving scene of Bensenville crash that killed motorcyclist
A tow truck driver who turned left in front of a motorcyclist in Bensenville has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death.
Joseph M. Sarb, 42, of the 1100 block of Thacker Street in Des Plaines, entered a blind plea Wednesday, leaving it up to Judge Daniel Guerin to decide his sentence.
He will be sentenced on April 4. Because the charge is a Class 1 felony, Sarb could be sentenced to probation or one to three years in prison.
He has been held in the DuPage County jail since his arrest on Aug. 2.
The crash happened around 10:14 p.m. on July 31 on Irving Park Road near Walnut Avenue. The victim was 46-year-old Dariusz Zalewski.
A woman driving behind Zalewski told police she saw a tow truck, driving west on Irving Park, make a left turn into a business parking lot. Zalewski was driving east on Irving Park and hit the back of the tow truck.
Sarb did not stop. A camera caught the license plate on the truck and traced it to a Des Plaines towing company where Sarb was living.
Sarb was not working that night but was driving the truck to buy cigarettes, a prosecutor said at Sarb’s bail hearing in August. She said he told police he kept going because “it didn't feel real.”