Hit-run driver admits leaving scene of fatal accident
Mark E. Gajkowski II faces up to seven years in prison for leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident in the Town of Evans that took the life of a college student last year.
Gajkowski, 24, of Madison Avenue, Angola, pleaded guilty Friday before Erie County Judge Michael F. Pietruszka to a pre-indictment felony charge of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting it.
Katherine W. Razzolini, 22, of East Aurora, was fatally struck by Gajkowski on Lake Shore Road near Central Avenue at about 3 a. m. on Sept. 30.
The judge warned Gajkowski he faces a state prison term of up to seven years. With the approval of prosecutors, the judge allowed Gajkowski to remain free on $5,000 bail pending his Oct. 6 sentencing.
Lynette M. Reda, chief of the Erie County district attorney’s Vehicular Crimes Bureau, said the parents of Razzolini, who are still paying off their daughter’s college loans, were advised that the crime Gajkowski pleaded guilty to is the highest charge a grand jury could have lodged against him.
Reda said Razzolini was walking with two friends on Lake Shore near Central Avenue in Evans when Gajkowski struck her with his 2003 Dodge Ram pickup truck and sped off, leaving the broken passenger side mirror of his vehicle on the road.
The prosecutor said Razzolini was taken by Mercy Flight to the Erie County Medical Center where she died hours later of severe brain injuries.
Gajkowski was arrested after Evans police impounded his pickup truck hours after the accident and confirmed its passenger side mirror was missing, Reda said.
During Friday’s proceeding Gajkowski politely replied “yes sir” to a series of procedural questions the judge asked him. Neither Gajkowski nor his attorney, Michael P. Caffery, would comment following Friday’s plea proceeding.
Caffery also represents Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch, who was fined $100 and had his driver’s license and car registration revoked June 27 for the non-fatal hit-and-run injuries a Canadian woman suffered in the Chippewa entertainment district May 31.
