1 dead, 2 injured in Homer Township crash as car goes airborne

One person is dead and two others are injured after a car went off the road and was airborne before landing near a creek in unincorporated Homer Township.

Officials from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office first arrived at the scene at 135th Street and Archer Avenue about 2:10 a.m. Wednesday before handing the investigation over to Will County officials, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

The Homer Township Fire Protection District arrived at the scene and extricated the 34-year-old male driver of a Tesla Model 3 and the 36-year-old front-seat male passenger, according to the sheriff’s office. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

The 33-year-old back-seat male passenger had been ejected from the vehicle and was airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove in critical condition. The driver was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox in stable condition, the sheriff’s office said.

The car was traveling east on 135th Street at a high rate of speed as it was coming into the curve ¼ mile west of Archer Avenue when it lost control, the sheriff’s office said.

The car crossed over the double-yellow line into oncoming westbound traffic and then struck the curb on the north side of the road, the sheriff’s office said.

The car was airborne before touching down in a grassy area near the entrance of the Target store nearby. It then continued in a northeast direction, over a raised median, and struck another curb before going down an embankment, the sheriff’s office said.

The car went over Long Run Creek until it came to rest on the east side of the creek.