Cops: Shorewood driver at 142 mph before crash

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Updated: March 17, 2012 10:16AM

A Shorewood man was driving 142 miles per hour when his car sailed off the road and disintegrated in Naperville, police confirmed Tuesday.

No bystanders or other motorists were injured in the Jan. 10 crash near Ogden Avenue and Rickert Drive that sent Dean A. Suominen to a local hospital.

Suominen, 36, appeared Tuesday before DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Cary B. Pierce to answer charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving too fast for conditions.

Three additional charges were formally filed Tuesday against Suominen in the case. Those counts included reckless driving, improper lane usage and speeding — specifically, driving at a speed of 142 mph in a 40 mph zone, said Sgt. Lee Martin, supervisor of the Naperville police traffic unit.

Investigators following the crash retrieved the “event data recorder” from what remained of Suominen’s 2008 Dodge Charger. Martin said the device, similar to the “black boxes” installed in commercial airliners, indicated the car’s speed was 142 mph at the time of the crash.

The orange Charger was equipped with a “large” engine, probably in the 5.7-liter range, Martin said.

Firefighters and police found Suominen trapped in the wreckage of the Charger just before 1 a.m. Jan. 10 in the yard of a home on the 500 block of Chamberlain Lane.

The car struck a traffic light and curb, “losing contact with the ground,” Martin said.

The airborne car traveled east over a parkway and hit the curb of a private driveway, “losing contact with the ground a second time” before rolling and striking a billboard post and fence, Martin said.

The Charger’s engine and one of its tires broke free and tumbled into a lot, damaging a parked car.

Suominen remains free on bond.