One person was killed in an early-morning rollover crash in Barrington Hills on Saturday, authorities said.
The crash happened in the northwestern suburb around 2:20 a.m. near Hills and Dales and Brinker roads, which remained closed for eight hours following the crash. A blue Mercedes SUV came up over a hill at a high speed heading north on Brinker Road and crashed into a nearby lawn, according to the Barrington Hills police department.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office later identified the person killed as 17-year-old Colin Newnam of Barrington.
The SUV slid and rolled about 400 feet, clipping two trees, going up, over, and through a culvert, according to police. The car toppled a large oak tree and stopped skidding near Hills and Dales Road.
One person was ejected from the car. Two other individuals were cut free from the SUV.
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Zach Swiatek’s teenage daughter woke him just after 2:20 a.m., as the car crashed outside her window, a few hundred feet from the family’s home of 10 years. He walked into his front yard to see the blue SUV crashed into his large 60-foot tree. The vehicle’s engine and transmission were detached, lying on the ground in front of the rest.
Police and first responders were already on scene, cutting the roof off the wrecked car to rescue the individuals inside, who were put into ambulances.
The homeowner said it’s not uncommon to see single-car crashes outside his home, because the two-way road is narrow and offers no shoulder. Swiatek said there has been at least one crash per year that he has lived at his current home. But Saturday’s fatal crash was particularly tragic.
“For a single-car crash, that was pretty horrific,” Swiatek said.
While Swiatek did not see the crash happen, police say speeding is the reason behind the crash. Swiatek said that speeding, along with ice in the winters, are the most common reasons cars crash near his home.
“They had to be traveling at a high rate of speed because they drove through a tree and knocked it over,” Swiatek said. “You would have to be going pretty fast for that kind of damage.”
Barrington Hills Police continue to investigate the crash.
“This was a horrible accident, and my heart goes out to the people involved and their families,” Swiatek said. “Huge loss today.”