Prosecutor: Speeding driver in fatal Schaumburg crash spent day 'smoking weed'
A Streamwood man with multiple past speeding violations, who prosecutors say was traveling between 80 and 90 mph Wednesday night when he tried to drive between two vehicles traveling nearly side by side, has been charged in the three-vehicle Schaumburg crash that killed 41-year-old Amando Chavez of Schaumburg.
Charged with aggravated DUI causing a death, Feroz Q. Khan, 25, was ordered held on $1.25 million bail Friday by Cook County Judge Joseph Cataldo.
Khan, who prosecutors said has seven prior speeding violations and one pending speeding violation, spent Wednesday "kayaking and smoking weed and then smoking some more weed at a friend's house in Carpentersville," said Cook County assistant state's attorney Jennifer Gates.
Meanwhile, a woman who works with Chavez's wife, Alicia, at Church of the Holy Spirit in Schaumburg created a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/chavez-family-fundraiser to help support the expenses of the grieving family with four young children.
"His death is a big loss to his family and the community," the GoFundMe page states.
By late Friday, the page had already raised more than $2,000 of its $5,000 goal.
Authorities said Khan was driving about 90 mph when he changed lanes and passed the first driver. Khan continued "at a high rate of speed" passing a second driver, Gates said. Khan then attempted to drive between a third driver's vehicle and Chavez's Mazda minivan, which were "nearly side-by-side" in the 500 block of East Schaumburg Road, Gates said.
Khan collided with Chavez's vehicle, which spun, left the road and struck a tree, killing him, authorities said. Khan's white 2009 Merecedes went off the roadway, and a pedestrian observed the driver - who prosecutors said was Khan - "run from the location and subsequently return to the location," Gates said.
According to police, "the defendant was jittery, sweating and acting irregularly" and disobeyed officer instructions, Gates said.
Police took Khan to Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, where medical personnel "gave verbal reports that toxicology indicated the defendant was positive for THC," Gates said. THC is the main psychoactive component in marijuana. Prosecutors said DUI results are pending.
Chavez was trapped in his vehicle and had to be extricated and given medical assistance at the scene. He was taken to Alexian Brothers, where he was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Defense attorney Jonathan Minkus said his client is a professional mixed martial arts fighter who has a bout scheduled for Sept. 1 in New Mexico.
"Forget about that," said Cataldo, who prohibited Khan from driving and from using drugs or alcohol.
Khan faces three to 14 years in prison if convicted. Unless a court determines extraordinary circumstances warrant it, probation is not an option.
Khan next appears in court on Sept. 6.