The man who evaded police for three weeks after running from a crash that left a Riverside woman dead has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, but escaped jail time.
On Wednesday, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Tucker sentenced Stephen J. Pocina, 46, to three years probation and 250 hours of community service for taking the life of 58-year-old Kathleen Talmage on the morning of March 3, 2006.
In addition to reckless homicide, a Class 3 felony, Pocina also pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, a more serious Class 2 felony, which could have resulted in a prison term of up to 14 years.
Andy Conklin, spokesman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, said that prosecutors asked for substantial prison time for Pocina, who was also fined $535.
Talmage, a 40-year employee of the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad, had just arrived at her job as a ticket agent at the Metra station at 7135 W. Windsor Ave. in Berwyn when Pocina slammed his green Range Rover into the building at around 5:45 a.m.
Critically injured by the impact of the crash, Talmage lay dying as Pocina staggered out of the vehicle and fled from the scene. She died within an hour of the crash. Pocina remained at large for the next three weeks.
Pocina was arrested March 23 at an Oak Brook condominium owned by his uncle. He has remained free on bond since being charged.
An eyewitness to the crash told the Landmark in 2006 that the vehicle was traveling 45 to 50 mph when it jumped an earth embankment and slammed into the wall of the train station. He said he saw a man get out of the vehicle and sit down briefly on the rubble of the building. The witness reported calling 911 and seeing the man sitting there as if waiting for emergency personnel to arrive.
The witness, who was in his car and on his way to work did not stick around, however. Before police arrived, the driver was gone.
Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said last week that while he was “delighted [Pocina] has a felony conviction” on his record, was disappointed with the sentence.
“You’d think the right thing to do would be to incarcerate this man,” Kushner said. “I can’t imagine the emotional turmoil [Talmage’s family] has been through.”
Police had hoped they could not only tie Pocina to the crash, but prove that he was drunk when he crashed into the station. However, investigators were never able to prove that.
“The length of time he was missing made it impossible to prove he was drunk at the time,” Kushner said.
A call to Pocina’s lawyer, Anthony Onesto, seeking comment was not returned.
Civil suit pending
Talmage’s husband, Juan Talancon, still has a civil lawsuit pending in Cook County Circuit Court against the City of Berwyn, the BNSF and Metra. That suit was originally filed March 27, 2006, against Pocina and was amended a year later to include the city and railroads, claiming their negligence related to the design and maintenance of the station contributed to the crash.
James Morici of Morici, Figlioli & Associates, who is representing Talmage’s estate in the civil matter, said last week that Pocina had already settled his involvement in the civil case in July 2007 and was no longer a party to the suit.
According to Morici, the settlement was for “a mid-six-figure amount,” and was paid through a combination of Pocina’s insurance coverage and his personal assets.
The civil case continues against the City of Berwyn and the railroad companies. Morici stated that if people knew the details of the civil case against Berwyn “it would outrage them as much as the case against Pocina.”
Morici said that there was at least one prior incident in which a car rammed into the unprotected east wall of the train station, which juts out into Windsor Avenue. In that incident, which happened late at night when the station was unoccupied, no one was injured.
But Morici said there have been several accidents caused by the placement of the station, which causes traffic to jog around it, and that he’s interested in talking with anyone who has been involved in an accident at that site.
“For nearly a quarter century before this death they had a ton of notice that it was a bad design and, basically, did nothing,” Morici said.