NESQUEHONING - Former Nesquehoning police officer Steven Homanko had his day in Carbon County court Tuesday
The judge accepted his guilty plea to vehicular homicide and reckless endangerment.
"If you do the crime, you have to do the time, I mean. That's for everybody. That's not just for police officers," said Jennifer Brown of Nesquehoning.
Back in 2014, witnesses told state police they spotted Homanko speeding and driving carelessly on Route 209 in Nesquehoning in Carbon County.
Homanko was chasing a woman in a Dodge Neon after she illegally passed another vehicle. That's when he lost control of his police cruiser and crashed head-on into another vehicle.
Carola Sauers, 68, and her husband Michael, both of Hazleton, were in the car that Homanko struck. She was killed and Michael was severely injured.
An accident investigation and reconstruction determined that Homanko was driving approximately 113 mph prior to the crash.
Newswatch 16 talked with folks who are hoping Homanko's guilty plea will bring some closure for the Sauers family.
"There's too much wrongdoing in the justice system in this day and age. I mean they do their part, but at the same time, there's people who don't get punished when they should," Laura Diehl of Nesquehoning told Newswatch 16.
Steven Homanko is scheduled to be sentenced on October 12.
