The final traffic stop of state police Cpl. Joseph Pokorny’s career ended outside a Carnegie hotel yesterday with a violent confrontation unfolding so rapidly that the 22-year veteran had no time to call for help once he realized his life was in danger.
Authorities said the 2 a.m. encounter, details of which remained murky last night, quickly turned into a desperate struggle that ended with the corporal fatally shot in the chest and lying in a snowbank near the Parkway West. The vehicle sped away and was recovered yesterday evening on the South Side, near the Hot Metal Bridge.
Some of Cpl. Pokorny’s belongings lay strewn near the parking lot of the Extended StayAmerica hotel. His gun reportedly was missing.