Granite City retiree blames head injury for ‘road rage’ incidents, burning neighbor’s dog

A Granite City man told a Madison County judge that an undiagnosed head injury caused him to burn a neighbor’s dog, set the neighbor’s fence on fire, tailgate and hit a motorcyclist with his car, fail to report the accident and engage in other disturbing behavior last year.

Associate Judge Ronald Slemer sentenced John T. Turcott, 69, a retired steelworker, to four years of probation instead of giving him a four-year prison term, as requested by prosecutors.

“(I’m having) a hard time not sending you to prison,” said Slemer, explaining that his decision was based mostly on Turcott’s lack of a criminal record.

Turcott promised the judge he would follow through with doctor’s appointments and try to get to the bottom of his issues, which he blamed on his fall from a tree while trimming it with a chainsaw.

“I’m actually not a violent person,” he testified at his sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville.

Turcott had pleaded guilty in February to four out of 26 charges resulting from five separate incidents in 2022. That includes animal cruelty and arson related to the fire and aggravated battery and failure to report an accident involving personal injury related to the motorcycle hit-and-run. The last three are felonies.

“Mr. Turcott knows he’s got a problem,” said his attorney, Tom Hildebrand. “He knows he’s got to get it fixed.”

The other 22 charges against Turcott were dismissed, including nine related to firearm possession with a revoked firearm owners identification card. Police reported that they found an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and other guns at his house on Dec. 8, 2022, after being alerted by his mother-in-law.

John Turcott and his wife, Angela Turcott, have been separated for several years and are now in divorce proceedings.

Dog owner testifies

Witnesses at the hearing included Melissa Walker, John Turcott’s former neighbor and owner of Rocky, a pit bull mix that was burned on Dec. 5, 2022, in her back yard on St. Thomas Road. She cried during her testimony and stated that she feared for her family’s safety.

After the hearing Tuesday, Walker expressed disappointment with what she viewed as too light a sentence for Turcott.

“I wanted him to rot in jail like he should,” she said in an interview. “... It’s been a nightmare. Whatever he was on, he’d yell all the time and rev his motorcycle up at all hours of the night. There was a lot that happened (before the fire), but that topped it.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Katie Warren had argued that Turcott sprayed gasoline on Rocky before throwing a lighted stick, which the dog fetched, over a wooden privacy fence, causing burns around its eye and mouth.

Walker wiped away tears while watching home-surveillance video of the incident from the witness stand. She also owns another dog with her husband Josh and two children.

“(Turcott) tried to burn those dogs alive,” Warren said.

Detective Jacob Svoboda, of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, testified that Turcott denied knowing anything about Rocky’s injury during questioning but admitted he had been burning vinyl siding in his yard.

“He told us that the dogs were always barking, and it was a constant issue for him,” Svoboda said.

Motorcyclist gives statement

Halfway through the hearing, Warren read a victim’s impact statement from Jacob Redstone, the motorcyclist that Turcott admitted running into a ditch and hitting with his car on June 22, 2022, off Morrison Road.

According to the statement, Redstone suffered a broken leg, which prevented him from working, attending college or walking unassisted for several months and depleted his savings because he had no health insurance. His motorcycle insurance wouldn’t cover the hit-and-run, his statement said.

His status as a military veteran made him eligible to stay in a Volunteers of America homeless shelter temporarily.

“So to recap, the attack robbed a year from me, delaying my education, causing me to become financially broke, in debt, and forced me to become homeless,” Redstone wrote.

Charges dropped against Turcott related to the hit-and-run included leaving the scene, failure to give aid or information, failure to report the accident to police, driving too fast for conditions, improper lane usage and operation of an uninsured motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

Illinois State Trooper Kevin Billings testified that a police investigation led to Turcott, who told officers that he didn’t remember the hit-and-run and gave “vague” answers to questions.

“He said he had a bad temper,” Billings said.

Turcott also was charged with criminal damage to property under $500 for allegedly hitting a garage door and smashing a window of a vehicle owned by his girlfriend, Marilyn Chrusciel, on Oct. 23, 2022.

In a related charge, prosecutors alleged that Turcott, while being transported to jail, threatened to choke Madison County Sgt. Michael Coles, put his head through a wall and show up at his house to harm him with help from friends in the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Five other charges resulted from an incident on June 30, 2022, that Warren referred to as “road rage.” Turcott allegedly tailgated, passed, backed up and hit a truck driven by Trevor Bardle before threatening to beat him with a fire poker and tire iron and implying he had a gun in his pocket.

“(Turcott) said that he blacked out and did not remember anything,” according to Svoboda, the detective who investigated.

Girlfriend called as witness

Defense attorney Hildebrand called Turcott’s girlfriend, Chrusciel, who he lives with now, as a witness at the hearing. She testified that he had been experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness and other strange symptoms since he fell, but results of a brain scan at the hospital came back normal.

Chrusciel promised to keep Turcott out of trouble if the judge was willing to give him probation, and that she would continue their quest to find a doctor who could properly diagnose him.

Chruscial, who works at Granite City High School, stated that seroquel, an antipsychotic medication, already was helping him.

“We don’t live a wild life,” she said.

Turcott testified on his own behalf at the hearing. He told Judge Slemer that he worked 35 years at American Steel in Granite City before retiring and that his hobbies have included guitar playing, car racing and mixed martial arts.

When talking about falling out of the tree, Turcott said, “I thought I was OK, but I guess I wasn’t.”

In her closing statement, Warren argued that the defense had presented no evidence that Turcott suffered a head injury, let alone one that caused criminal behavior, and his actions could have resulted in more serious injuries to Redstone or Bartle, as well as firefighters and neighbors in Granite City.

Hildebrand countered that sentencing Turcott to prison would serve only to “deter people in their 60s from going on a criminal spree that they can’t explain.” He likened his client’s personality change to “Jekyll and Hyde.”

Turcott had been incarcerated more than 100 days before he was released on bond. Beyond the four years of probation, Slemer sentenced him to six more months in jail, but that will take effect only if he gets in trouble.

Turcott must pay restitution for damages. He is no longer allowed to visit the house he owns with his estranged wife on St. Thomas Road, go anywhere near his victims, particularly the Walker family, or own a dog.

“At this time, if the court told me to jump out the window, I would,” he said.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of the last name of Madison County Sheriff’s Department Detective Jacob Svoboda’.