Father, mother, daughter killed in Des Plaines crash; son in critical condition
Three members of a Des Plaines-area family were killed when their car was hit broadside while turning through an intersection, authorities said Monday.
Two other people were injured in the horrific crash shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday at Rand and Golf roads in Des Plaines, including a 16-year-old boy who was driving the family's car. He is in critical condition at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
The Cook County Medical Examiner identified the victims Monday as 20-year-old Amra Dilji and her parents, 48-year-old Edije Dilji and 57-year-old Serif Dilji, all of the 8900 block of North Parkside Drive in unincorporated Maine Township, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
The family was in a Volkswagen Passat traveling northwest on Rand Road when the 16-year-old driver attempted to turn west on Golf Road, police said. A man driving a Lexus southeast on Rand Road broadsided the passenger side of the family's vehicle as it attempted to make the left turn during a green light, police said.
The collision caused the family's vehicle to roll over once and hit a curb, moving about 25 yards, police said.
ABC 7 Chicago reported the intersection was closed for more than nine hours for the investigation.
The driver of the Lexus, a 37-year-old man from the Des Plaines area, was injured in the crash but has been released from the hospital, police said.
Des Plaines firefighters extricated the boy from the car and took him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. His condition was improving when police checked on him last night, Cmdr. Christopher Mierzwa said Monday.
"We didn't think he was going to make it at one point," Mierzwa said.
The boy has a driver's license, police said.
David Beery, a spokesman for Maine Township High School District 207, confirmed the boy is a student at Maine East in Park Ridge. His sister, Amra Dilji, was a 2015 graduate of the school, Beery said.
"We are deeply saddened to hear this tragic news, and we would like to extend our deepest condolences to surviving family members and friends of the family," Beery said in a statement. "We will, upon students' return from spring break, be making support services available."
There is no indication of intoxication or impairment for either driver, authorities said. Speed also does not appear to be a factor, though investigators are still gathering evidence. The speed limit in the area is 40 mph.
Police have viewed footage from a red-light camera at the intersection, Mierzwa said.
"It doesn't appear, and witnesses say, the (Lexus) wasn't traveling that fast," he said.
Mierzwa said the circumstances of this crash do not appear to be similar to a fatal collision on Northwest Highway in Des Plaines in February 2017.
In that crash, Kevin and Anita Crawford and their 20-year-old daughter Kirsten were fatally struck by a car traveling 135 mph as they turned into Lattof YMCA. Piotr Rog, the driver of the speeding car, also died.
• Daily Herald staff writers Christopher Placek and Lee Filas contributed to this story.