HARTFORD, Conn. — An Enfield man whose pickup truck smashed into a state police cruiser and killed a trooper last year pleaded no contest to manslaughter and assault charges Wednesday, as a prosecutor acknowledged there were conflicting test results on whether the man was high on drugs.
Michael Pajak, 33, accepted a plea bargain calling for a 14-year prison sentence during a hearing at Hartford Superior Court. His lawyer will have the right to argue for less prison time during the sentencing on Aug. 29.
Hartford State's Attorney Gail Hardy, who proposed the plea deal last week, said Pajak's truck was going at least 80 mph on Interstate 91 northbound in Enfield when it veered from the left lane into the right shoulder and struck Trooper Kenneth Hall's parked cruiser while Hall was sitting inside during a traffic stop. The 57-year-old Hall, a 22-year state police veteran and former Marine, died from his injuries. Pajak and a woman in his truck were injured.
Hardy said in court Wednesday that a urine sample taken from Pajak after the accident tested positive for cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and the sedative benzodiazepine, but a blood test taken after the crash turned up no illegal drugs. Hardy said blood tests "trump" urine tests, because blood work shows what was in someone's system at the time of an accident while urine tests show what was in their system for several days.
Hardy said Pajak admitted taking painkillers a short time before the accident, and the woman in his truck, 34-year-old Jenny Benvenuto, told police that she and Pajak also had been doing heroin in the days before the crash.
Several state troopers and members of Hall's family attended Wednesday's court hearing and said they wished there was more prison time in Pajak's plea deal.
"It's disappointing that … 14 years is what my life is worth out there," said state police Sgt. John Netkovick, who was Hall's supervisor.
Hall's widow, Sheila, left the courthouse Wednesday without commenting publicly. Her lawyer, Paul Iannaccone, said Hall's family wants a much longer prison sentence for Pajak and will ask for more prison time at the sentencing hearing, but they understand Hardy's decision to offer the plea deal.
"The family would have preferred the maximum penalty," Iannaccone said. "I don't think any penalty can make up for the loss of a loved one."
He said the family is considering whether to sue Pajak.
Pajak, who appeared in court in an orange prison jumpsuit with his hands and legs shackled, pleaded no contest to first-degree manslaughter for Hall's death and second-degree assault with a motor vehicle for Benvenuto's injuries. The two charges carry up to 25 years in prison.
Before the plea bargain, Pajak faced more than 40 years in prison on charges including two counts of manslaughter and one count each of second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, misconduct with a motor vehicle and illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In court, Hardy described the crash that killed Hall last Sept. 2.
Hall pulled over a pickup truck that was hauling a trailer near Exit 48 because items on the trailer were unsecured. The truck pulled over on the right shoulder and Hall parked his cruiser behind it. The driver, Douglas Caverly, gave Hall his registration and license, and Hall went back to his cruiser.
Caverly walked over to the trailer and was standing between it and the back of his truck when he heard a screeching noise and saw another pickup in the air, flying over him. He suffered minor injuries from flying debris.
Hardy said the accident was so violent that "the state police cruiser was unrecognizable as a vehicle."
Witnesses said Pajak was driving erratically at a high rate of speed before his truck veered into the shoulder and struck the cruiser. Hardy said investigators determined that Pajak's truck was going 80 mph to 88 mph just before the crash in the 65 mph zone.
Pajak has several previous convictions for narcotics possession, assault, interfering with police and other crimes, according to state court records. His driver's license had also been suspended several times for various violations, but it was valid at the time of the crash.