Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — A homeless man from Venice was convicted today in the killing of a Los Angeles International Airport police officer during a bizarre incident in 2005.
A jury convicted William Sadowski of four counts of homicide and carjacking. A sanity phase in the trial begins this afternoon.
On April 29, 2005, Sadowski allegedly commandeered Officer Thomas Scott’s patrol car on Lincoln Boulevard, dragging him along as they struggled for control of the steering wheel. The car hit a fire hydrant, killing Scott.
Sadowski, 51, was convicted of murder as well as three carjacking-related charges. Authorities at the time believed Sadowski may have been plotting to carjack a vehicle, drive it onto the airfield and possibly into an airplane.
According to people who knew him, Sadowski lived out of his car in Venice and frequented a cyber cafe where he checked his e-mail and surfed the Web. They said Sadowski could be long-winded in conversations about politics and other issues but that he was never hostile.
Copyright 2009 Los Angeles Times