Man found guilty of drunkenly striking man with SUV in 2014

A man was convicted Friday of fatally striking a friend with his SUV, after the friend tried to stop him from driving because he thought he was too drunk after leaving a West Town bar in 2014.

Timothy McShane, 44, was found guilty of reckless homicide, failure to report an accident involving death, two counts of aggravated DUI and causing an accident leading to death, following a bench trial before Judge Lawrence Flood, according to Cook County court records.

Shane Stokowski, 33; and McShane were having drinks with their respective friends at separate tables at the Aberdeen Tap at 458 N. Aberdeen St. on the afternoon of March 22, 2014, when Stokowski saw McShane get up to leave, prosecutors said at the time.

Stokowski thought McShane was too drunk to drive, so he followed him out to the parking lot, prosecutors said. He went up the SUV after McShane got in, and leaned into the driver’s side window in an apparent attempt to stop him from driving away.

But McShane backed out of the bar’s parking lot, struck several cars and then sped off with Stokowski still hanging on to the SUV’s window, prosecutors said. He drove for three-quarters of a block before Stokowski fell and hit the pavement.

Stokowski died of blunt force trauma to the head and being struck by the SUV, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

McShane then drove to his girlfriend’s house, parked her Nissan Murano, and fell asleep for three hours, prosecutors said. When police found him there, McShane told them Stokowski had attacked him and he had fled in fear.

Hours after he left the bar, McShane’s blood-alcohol level was .225, more than twice the state’s legal limit, prosecutors said at trial. He was previously arrested in 2006 for DUI, but the charge was reduced to reckless driving. He also received court supervision for a DUI in 1993.

McShane is next scheduled to appear in court April 21 for a pre-sentencing hearing.