LAX Airport, CA - Subject that Stole LAX Police Car - Dragged LAX Police Officer to Death - Charged with Murder

Man to be tried in killing of LAX officer
William Sadowski is accused of stealing policeman's patrol car and dragging him to death.
By Shirley Hsu
DAILY BREEZE

A man accused of dragging an airport police officer to his death will stand trial for murder, a judge ordered Monday.

After hearing testimony from several witnesses who said they saw police officer Tommy Scott, 35, struggling to hang on to his patrol car after it was allegedly stolen by William Sadowski, a judge found there was sufficient evidence to try Sadowski for murder, two counts of carjacking and one count of attempted carjacking.

Witnesses recounted a horrifying scene that occurred after Scott noticed Sadowski, 48, acting suspicious near the outer fence of Los Angeles International Airport. They described Sadowski running to the police car with Scott in pursuit, first running alongside the cruiser, then clinging to it and being dragged.

One witness fought tears and struggled to describe getting out of his car to help the officer and seeing that he had been decapitated during the crash. Scott's stepmother, JoAnn Carter-Scott, cried as she listened to the testimony, and was comforted by her husband and LAX police officer Michael Sholley.

Thomas Kurata said he was returning from a boat shop when he saw Sadowski, who sprinted to the patrol car with Scott in pursuit, get in and drive off.

Kurata testifed Scott was able to catch up to the car and grab on, finally succeeding in getting halfway through the window while trying to stop Sadowski. As the car accelerated, the officer started losing his grip and his lower body slid beneath the car, he said.

"He was hanging on for dear life" and getting "bounced" around as the car accelerated to 40 to 50 mph, he estimated.

The car then made a sharp right turn and hit a curb, then a fire hydrant, then a tree, he said.

The whole incident took less than a minute and covered some 200 yards, Kurata said. After the crash, he said, Sadowski walked around calmly, as if he was in no rush to leave.

Los Angeles Police Department Detective Eric Mosher said a woman he interviewed told him she saw Sadowski emerge from the plume of water, walk toward her car and try to open the door, which she had locked.

Sadowski then continued to the car behind hers, a red Ford Explorer belonging to Craig Lazar, who had stopped and gotten out of his car to help the officer. He said he saw the patrol car before the crash jerking back and forth as if the driver was trying to shake Scott off.

After the crash, Lazar saw Sadowski headed toward his car. He decided to back off and let him take the Explorer because he feared for his safety.


When Lazar next saw his car five hours later, it was upside down at the base of the airport runway, he said.

He later received a box with his belongings from the car, some that did not belong to him: an international driver's license with a picture of Sadowski, a ticket for a flight to Russia for that day, and a calendar book that showed Sadowski had been to Russia six or seven times that year, he said. Phone numbers of Russian consulates and of aerospace companies also were found, along with three or four photos of women and what appeared to be romantic poems, he said.

District attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said she could not comment on a motive for the killing.

She said prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Defense attorney Irene Nunez argued unsuccessfully that there was not enough evidence to try Sadowski for the premeditated, deliberate and willful murder of Scott. The car swerved and crashed into the fire hydrant to avoid being cut off by a limousine slowing down in front of the patrol car, she argued, and not in a deliberate attempt to kill Scott.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit with long, gray hair and a beard, Sadowski glanced at the gallery as he walked into court but did not react to the testimony. He returns to court Sept. 5.

Back