A Lockport truck driver with a history of seizures who lied about his condition to renew his commercial license has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for causing a crash that killed two women when he blacked out behind the wheel.
Thomas J. Moran, 50, was sentenced earlier this week for perjury and for reckless homicide, a charge normally filed in cases where drivers are intoxicated. Moran, who was not under the influence of alcohol, was convicted by a Will County jury in September.
His lawyers said they plan to appeal the sentence.
In the June 2000 accident, Moran was driving south on Illinois Highway 53 in Crest Hill when his dump truck crossed the median and plowed into four oncoming cars.
Miriam Gasmovic, 65, of Joliet, and her sister, Almeta Garner, 71, of Mandeville, La., were killed and three others were injured.
At trial, prosecutors successfully argued that Moran should not have been driving because he had suffered several seizures or blackouts in the previous five years. In addition, they argued that in order to renew a commercial driver’s license, he lied about his medical condition.
“He knew he had the potential to black out at any time,” said Will County State’s Atty. Jeff Tomczak. “We, and I personally, decided that to be a reckless act.”
Though reckless homicide usually applies to drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Tomczak said there are other instances when the charge is appropriate, such as if someone is drag-racing through a quiet neighborhood or takes medicine that makes him or her drowsy.
“You have to be careful behind the wheel or someone could get hurt,” he said. “And in this case, two people got killed.”
But Moran’s lawyers said he was not responsible.
“No one told him about the condition,” said his lawyer, Joseph Polito of Joliet.
Polito said Moran was very remorseful about the accident, after which he lost his commercial driver’s license and stopped working. In addition, he has been diagnosed with a heart problem that at least one doctor said could require special care, the lawyer said.
As a result, Polito said he is concerned about the quality of his client’s health in prison.
