Man accused in fatal hit-run appears in court

A Lawrenceville man accused of driving drunk and killing a young mother showed no sign of emotion during his first appearance in court Tuesday.

Constantine Toncz, 39, answered only "yeah" when a Gwinnett County Magistrate Court judge asked if he hired an attorney. He was granted $46,000 cash bond. His ex-wife and several family members in the courtroom did not speak to reporters.

Relatives of the victim, 25-year-old Sabrina Stanek, said she was trying to protect her children when she was hit by a speeding hit-and-run driver Sunday night in her Lawrenceville neighborhood. Stanek walked to the curb in front of her house to flag down the driver for zooming up and down the street. The driver lost control of his truck while negotiating a sharp curve. He struck Stanek and then slammed into her boyfriend's parked truck, police said.

Stanek's parents were in the process of filing for custody of their daughter's two children, ages 4 and 6, when reached by phone on Tuesday afternoon. Her father, Mark Stanek, said the children didn't witness the accident because they were asleep.

Stanek worked as a manager at a Lawrenceville product distribution company and was an "awesome mom," her father said.

"The father in me says let me shoot him or let me run him over," Mark Stanek said. "But the Christian in me says two wrongs don't make a right."

After the accident, the driver did not stop to render aid, abandoned his truck and walked to a family member's house down the street.

Police arrested Toncz there later that night, charging him with vehicular homicide.

Toncz, a self-employed construction worker from Romania, had been arrested three other times in Gwinnett County since 1993. He was out of jail on bond for a felony theft charge when the accident occurred.

Neighbors said speeding cars are a constant problem on Belmont Lane, which is in the Village Gate subdivision. There are no speed bumps and police officers are a rare sight, said Christy Hill, 31, who lives across the street from Stanek.

Hill said she no longer feels safe walking in the neighborhood.

"She came out to tell him to stop speeding before he hit and killed someone, and then he hit and killed her," Hill said. "This has got to stop."