'New questions have arisen' in fatal crash, prosecutor says

The investigation into the cause of a weekend car accident near Huntley that left three men dead and two others critically injured continued Monday, the same day friends and relatives buried the three killed in the Saturday morning crash.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti said felony charges against the driver, Muhammad Jaffrie, 24 of Crystal Lake, are possible.

Jaffrie was cited on charges of failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and driving too fast for conditions.

"New questions have arisen," said Barsanti, of the investigation involving the state's attorney and Kane County sheriff's department. "Felony charges are possible, but we need to await further testing on the driver's blood."

Barsanti said blood samples taken from Jaffrie were sent to the state crime laboratory. Results are expected to take a few weeks, Barsanti said.

In addition, Kane County sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said an accident reconstruction team has surveyed the scene and is now working to determine events leading up to and the cause of the crash.

"They are doing all of their mathematical equations and computer animations to figure out what was going on with the car before the accident," Gengler said. "That's important especially in this case because we only have one passenger who we can ask, but right now he is fighting for his life."

Police said Jaffrie was driving a 2003 Infiniti G35 west on Dietrich Road, between Brier Hill Road and Route 20 just north of I-90, when it left the road and hit a tree around 3:30 a.m. Saturday in unincorporated Kane County.

The accident killed Ayush Joshi, 20, of Hoffman Estates and brothers Zohair Husain, 18, of Huntley and Kumail Husain, 20, of Algonquin.

Two nearby residents heard the crash and went outside to look. At first the couple didn't see anything because the car was so crumpled into the tree and it was dark outside. The two were about to go back inside when they heard a cry for help, said Joshi's cousin, Vikas Upadhyay.

"It was so deep into the tree and it was so dark. … If (one of the men) hadn't said anything, they wouldn't have seen them," he said.

After dialing 911, the couple stayed with the victims until emergency crews arrived, he said.

Zohair and Kumail were buried Monday at Arlington Cemetery in Elmhurst.

Family members gave their last goodbyes to Joshi at a funeral held Monday.

Joshi aspired to go to medical school and was described as a bright kid who had lots of friends.

"He had his whole life in front of him and in the drop of a dime it's all gone," Upadhyay said.

Jaffrie was listed in critical but stable condition Monday at Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin.

The other survivor, 19-year-old Henry Onwualu of Huntley, was in critical condition at St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford.

Jaffrie's previous brushes with the law were a speeding ticket in May 2002 for driving 74 mph in a 55 mph zone on Randall Road, just north of County Line Road in southeastern McHenry County, and a ticket for driving without a seat belt, in the same month.