JOLIET, IL — Illinois State Police Trooper Kevin Wehling testified Wednesday in the aggravated DUI trial of former Joliet police Erin Zilka that she sat in his squad car and recounted the crash that killed her passenger, Charles “Chuck” Schauer, an off-duty Berwyn police officer.
As Zilka cried uncontrollably, it was often difficult to understand what she said during much of the 24-minute-long audio recording from the state trooper’s car. Special prosecutor Bill Elward played the audio for Will County Judge Dave Carlson, who will decide whether Zilka is guilty or innocent of her multiple aggravated DUI charges.
The prosecutor may finish presenting his witnesses on Thursday afternoon.
Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
As she sat in the front passenger seat of the Illinois State Police car, Zilka is heard sobbing as she watched the state police and firefighter-paramedics converge upon her mangled Dodge Durango in the distance during the 6 a.m. hour on Interstate 55 on Jan. 19, 2020.
She knew that Schauer was in her passenger seat, and the police and firefighters were not working with urgency to free him from the wreckage.
Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Elward asked the state trooper to describe Zilka’s demeanor as he tried to take her initial statement.
“Very emotional. Distressed. Distraught,” Wehling testified.
On several occasions, Zilka was overheard talking inside the squad car, but not to the state trooper.
“I think she was on the phone,” Wehling testified.
“Where is he, please?” a voice is heard on the squad car’s audio system.
“That’s Zilka,” Wehling testified. “She’s on the phone.”
Zilka continued crying and wailing as the trooper calmly told her, “Just keep talking to me, all right?”
“We were driving back, and I live right here,” Zilka remarked. “No lights on this truck … and I clipped the truck. I was in the turn lane to get off (I-55).”
Zilka was overcome with emotion as she cried, “I don’t know what to do.”
“EMS is here,” Wehling told her. “They’re going to take a look at everything.”
At one point, she told Wehling, who was finishing his second year on the job with the Illinois State Police, that she wanted to talk to him “officer to officer, please.”
“Who?” Wehling asked her.
“Joliet,” she replied.
During cross-examination, Zilka’s lawyer, Jeff Tomczak, told the courtroom that Zilka’s reference of “officer to officer” never implied anything about getting or expecting a break.
According to the trooper’s testimony, she was pleading to learn whether Schauer was still alive or was dead.
When Zilka said something about “I’m begging you right now,” the state trooper told her, “I need you to put your feet in here, all in, just relax, okay?”
“Please, please? I know this is an awkward situation right now. I’m begging you. Please. I’m sorry to be in this position,” Zilka said, as she sounded out of breath.
The state trooper spoke up, asking, “Tell me your name, miss.”
“Erin, last name Zilka,” as she spelled out the letters and gave the trooper her middle name and her date of birth.
Then, she said, “I can’t do this right now.”
During Wednesday’s bench trial, Elward paused the recording and asked his witness a question.
“Did she appear to you at all to be injured?”
“No,” Wehling testified.
As the video continued, Zilka is heard saying, “there was a crash in the side of the road. Now my car is totaled,” she cried.
“She’s on the phone,” Wehling clarified for the prosecutor.
The prosecutor continued playing the tape, and Zilka is heard exclaiming how there was a truck blocking the turn lane without any lights, and it was dark.
“I don’t know what to do,” she cried. “I don’t know what to do right now.”
“Erin, Erin, how do you spell your last name, Zilka?” the trooper asked.
Zilka repeated the spelling of her name and explained how she has been a police officer for 12 years. As the minutes pass, she remained worried about Schauer’s condition.
“I don’t know,” Wehling told her. “It doesn’t look good, though. But they’re checking him out now. I mean, he looked injured.
“How long have you been a police officer?”
Click Here: Son Heung-min Jersey Sale
“I was with Shorewood five-and-a-half years and Joliet for seven,” Zilka answered.
Wehling asked if she knew a particular Shorewood police officer, but she did not recognize his name.
Next, Wehling asked if she recalled the events leading up to the I-55 crash.
“Yeah, we were at a party, we went to his party in Berwyn,” Zilka said, explaining how the party was attended by several of Schauer’s friends. She then told the state trooper all the main roads and interstates she traveled as she was driving Schauer back to her home in Plainfield.
“What’s his name?” Wehling asked.
“Chuck Schauer,” Zilka answered. She provided the state trooper with Schauer’s date of birth as well as his middle name.
Just then, information was shared over the Illinois State Police radio that the person responsible for causing the initial crash with the Hino box truck, a four-time drunk driver from Plainfield now known to be Rodrigo Marin, “had fled on foot.”
Back in Wehling’s squad car, Zilka sounded out of breath as she told the state trooper how the box truck she hit “was completely blacked out.”
“I’m going to walk you down to the ambulance to get checked out,” Wehling told her.
Zilka told the trooper that as a police officer, “we see this shit. I don’t know how to deal with this right now.”
“Erin, let’s get you checked out,” he remarked.
During cross-examination, Zilka’s lawyer, Jeff Tomczak, reminded the state trooper that he did not notice any signs of impairment by Zilka or intoxication from consuming alcohol.
“Correct,” Wehling answered on the witness stand.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.