Pot-growing found in house after car crashes through wall, killing man
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com September 10, 2011 5:44PM
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Updated: November 9, 2011 3:21PM
LOCKPORT TOWNSHIP — A man was killed after his neighbor’s car crashed through his living room Saturday.
Zachary Isenberg, 28, and his roommate, Thomas J. Micucci, 27, were sitting on their couch at 431 Connor Ave. playing video games around 12:18 p.m. when the accident occurred.
“Patricia Dolton, 63, the neighbor across the street, started her 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis and began backing out of the driveway,” Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said.
“It appears the accelerator stuck and the car backed across the street, knocked over a telephone pole and went through the wall with tremendous force.”
Isenberg reportedly stood up to look out the window at the commotion, while his longtime friend Micucci, whose father owns the house, was able to jump off the couch to safety. The white car pushed the sofa through an interior wall and out to the back of the house.
“(Isenberg) was pinned underneath and had to be extricated,” Lockport Township Battalion Chief John Kure said.
While a helicopter was called to the scene, Isenberg was taken to Silver Cross Hospital and pronounced dead.
Dolton and her passenger were also taken to the hospital as a precaution, Kure said.
“As rescue personnel were looking for other possible victims they came to a locked bathroom that contained 13 3-foot marijuana plants and heat lamps and other equipment for an indoor marijuana grow set up,” he said.
The Will County Gang Suppression Unit obtained a search warrant for the property Saturday afternoon.
Kaupas said Micucci followed the ambulance to the hospital and was arrested when he returned around 4 p.m.
“He was linked to the plants in the bathroom and a handgun was found in his bedroom,” Kaupas said.
Micucci has previously been convicted on a felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol and does not have a valid firearm owner’s identification card.
“He also told deputies there was some cash in the house he wanted to get,” Kaupas said.
According to reports, the only cash found in the house was approximately $1,700 in Isenberg’s bedroom, along with a half-ounce of cocaine.
Micucci was charged with production of cannabis plants and unauthorized possession of a firearm and booked into the county jail.
“The car will not be taken out until (the police search) is complete because the engineer at the scene said the house will collapse when it’s removed,” Kaupas said Saturday evening.
