GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Friends and family gathered in Peachtree Corners to remember a retired couple killed in a horrific crash last week.
Friends say Dr. Krysztof Krawczynski was an accomplished immunologist who helped discover the hepatitis C virus during his time at the CDC. His wife, Dr. Elizbieta Gurtler-Krawczynska, was a well-respected radiologist working on clinical trials for nuclear medicine studies of the heart at Emory.
Those who knew them well say, above all, they were avid cheerleaders for their Polish heritage, a worldly, friendly, and warm couple whose loss has devastated an entire community.
“They were just lovely, lovely people,” friend and fellow Chopin Society of Atlanta Board member, Elizabeth Pelypenko, told Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik. “They were brilliant scientists, and Krysztof had a great sense of humor, very wry, and Elizbieta, her energy and her passion.”
“Everyone is devastated,” said Pelypenko. “They were so well-loved, they were just such a great couple. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the loss of these two phenomenal people.”
Their funeral was held Thursday, hours after the man accused of crashing into them appeared in court.
Earlier in the day, the Tennessee man charged in the crash learned the evidence against him and learned he'll remain in jail.
A Gwinnett County Police officer testified Larry Thomas refused to pull over for a Johns Creek officer who started a traffic stop because of a burned-out tag light.
“Mr. Thomas didn’t stop and began driving away at a high rate of speed,” Officer B.J. Roehl testified.
Roehl testified Thomas ran two red lights, and at the intersection of Jaybird Alley struck the Krawczynski’s car as they tried to turn left onto the road.
The impact killed Ms. Krawcyznska, and her husband later died at the hospital, he testified.
Roehl told a judge Thomas appeared to be high on cocaine.
“Mr. Thomas also did have a white powdery substance in his nose at the hospital while Officer Murphy was talking to him,” Roehl said. “Mr. Thomas’s speech was slow and thick and raspy. He appeared very sleepy and had trouble staying awake when talking with him.”
Roehl testified Thomas admitted to smoking marijuana earlier in the day, and he said there was evidence he had injected himself with meth the day before. Inside the car, he said officers found a variety of drugs, including LSD and heroin for sale and use.
He said Thomas and his son, 18-year-old Jesse, who was also in the car, admitted to having been in Alpharetta earlier in the day, but didn’t say for what purpose.
“Inside the bag you could see another plastic bag that had a large amount of crystal substance that appeared to be crystal meth,” he said.
Police have also charged Jesse Thomas with drug and weapons violations.
“They denied there was drugs in the car, they denied using it and they denied about the weapon in the car as well,” Roehl said.
Roehl also testified he received a call from an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms that the feds intend to charge both Thomas’s for meth and weapons violations in their home state of Tennessee.
“They have on video Mr. Jesse Thomas smoking some type of substance from a bong, various guys and girls coming on and off the property with guns,” he said. “There’s a laptop they recovered with several pictures of meth on there.”
Pelypenko told Petchenik she doesn’t know if justice can ever be served in this case.
“They have to serve time for what they have done,” she said. “It’s a devastating loss. It really, really is.”
The couple will be buried in their native Poland.
WSBTV
