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Truck driver receives sentence for 2012 I-80 death
By JEANNE STARMACK
GIRARD
Family and friends of a man killed by a tractor-trailer driver were in Girard Municipal Court on Thursday for the truck driver’s sentencing.
Richard A. Pacholski, 63, of North Carolina was driving east on Interstate 80 in Girard on July 5 when he fell asleep, crossed the median and killed Robert J. Lucarell, 62, of Hubbard, who was driving west.
Pacholski was charged with vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor, but pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter.
Judge Jeffrey Adler sentenced Pacholski to 90 days in the Trumbull County jail, a $750 fine, a two-year license suspension and five years’ probation with 60 days in jail suspended. A condition of probation is that he will speak before people taking truck-driving lessons about the dangers of driving tired.
Before sentencing, Lucarell’s wife, Cheryl, and son Robert talked about how his death changed their lives.
Cheryl Lucarell told the court that Pacholski “condemned my husband to death, and me to a life of loneliness and grief.”
“He ended our world because he needed a nap,” she said.
“He continued driving long after he knew he was too tired,” she said. “He crushed my husband. He crushed him,” she said, sobbing.
“My dad was a great man who loved his wife, children and grandchildren,” said Robert Lucarell.
He asked the judge to send a message not only to Pacholski, but “to everyone who would act as he does.”
He said his father, a Vietnam War veteran, “survived Vietnam but couldn’t survive Richard Pacholski’s stupidity.”
The family said Pacholski has shown no remorse.
His lawyer, Damian Billak, said otherwise.
“We do offer up our condolences,” he said.
He said his client also was in Vietnam, and past jobs included emergency medical technician, deputy sheriff and helicopter pilot. He had been an over-the-road trucker for 18 years with only a speeding ticket, Billak said.
Billak said Judge Adler had to follow sentencing guidelines in Ohio law, which included considering the likelihood to offend again.
He said his client voluntarily surrendered his commercial driver’s license. He asked for probation.
Pacholski told Lucarell’s family that he prays for peace for them.
“I deeply regret getting behind the wheel of that truck,” he said.
Judge Adler said sentencing was a hard decision because Pacholski had a good life with one grave mistake.
“He said, ‘Oh, I may have nodded off,’” Judge Adler said, “and that’s where I find the trouble in this case.”
“Within two or three miles, he passed two rest stops,” Judge Adler continued. “You could have pulled over to the side of the road.”
Lucarell’s wife and son said they believe the judge did what he could.
“We are happy,” his son said. “We believe [Judge Adler] did the right thing.”