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Cops Let Intoxicated Paramedic Off The Hook Before He Causes Fatal Crash
The off-duty paramedic allegedly reeked of alcohol while being investigated by three cops for a small crash. They are accused of letting him go and 90 minutes later he got into a crash which killed two people.
A paramedic from Indiana was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and with reckless homicide last week for allegedly causing an accident which killed a couple. Tron Gorbonosenko, 40, was off-duty and allegedly driving his Ford Mustang with a blood alcohol level of .17 last month when the crash occurred, according to WNDU.
Don and Angie Kaczmarek, two local business owners, were inside a Honda Odyssey van when they were hit. Both died at the scene. Gorbonosenko was critically injured but released from a hospital about a week later.
Now, details are emerging that reveal that three police officers allegedly encountered Gorbonosenko before the crash, to investigate him for another fender bender. According to the Herald Argus, the cops investigated him just 90 minutes before the Kaczmarek couple was killed. That publication obtained a tort claim notice which accuses the police officers of "failing to perform their statutory and administrative duties.” That report states that Gorbonosenko struck a parked car and utility pole earlier that day and that the three cops responded to a 911 call about it. The witness caller, according to the tort claim, allegedly smelled alcohol on the off-duty paramedic’s breath. According to the claim, police didn’t even ask to see Gorbonosenko's license and they didn’t conduct a sobriety test.
There reportedly wasn't even a police report about the incident but a 911 Center Call Report obtained by the Herald Argus states: "(Caller) states black Mustang hit a parked car and then (ran into a pole)/he's 10-56 (intoxicated)/driver went into karate place on (Lincoln Way)/unsure if injured." La Porte Police Chief Tom Owens has declined to make a comment.
Gorbonosenko is being charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated above .15 percent causing death, which is a felony. He is also charged with two counts of reckless homicide, more felonies. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer at this time. His initial hearing will be in October and a bond for him was set at $25,000.
[Photo: La Porte County Jail]
