By Alex Aguilar
Chicago Tribune
Copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — A car crash that killed two men early Saturday in rural Kane County was almost followed by another accident when a rescue helicopter with mechanical problems plunged from the air and had to avoid homes and power lines before landing safely.
Officials credited the pilot’s flying skills with avoiding disaster. The pilot and two others in the Air Angels chopper were uninjured.
They were responding to a crash that occurred about 2:50 a.m. in Sugar Grove Township when a speeding Nissan sedan crossed an intersection, careered through a vegetable garden and struck a tree, nearly breaking the auto in two, police said.
Passengers Andrew Berger, 21, and Joshua Sutton, 21, both of Batavia, were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, Thomas Ofenloch, 23, of the 1300 block of Balmoral Court, Aurora, was treated and released from Provena Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, authorities said.
Ofenloch was charged with four counts each of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence and was being held in the Kane County Jail in Geneva pending a bail hearing scheduled for Sunday, said Kane County sheriff’s Lt. Pat Gengler.
Investigators say Ofenloch was traveling north on Dugan Road at high speed when he lost control of his car as he approached the T-intersection with Scott Road.
Initially, investigators thought there may have been a fourth person thrown from the car, and the Air Angels helicopter was sent to aid in the search. That theory has since been ruled out.
As the aircraft hovered about 300 feet above the scene, witnesses saw a spark near the rotor and smoke pouring from the engine.
Joe Hollmier, who lives in a house north of the intersection, said the car crash woke him up, and he ran outside to find the car and bodies lying in the field.
He said the helicopter was searching the field for more victims when he saw smoke coming from the main rotor. He said the pilot just missed power lines, his house and a neighbor’s before landing safely.
“You really have to be out here to see how close [the pilot] was to the houses, and the high power lines,” Gengler said. “You hear so many stories of helicopters going down and it’s bad, but this is one of the good stories, and it’s due to the skill of the pilot.”
The pilot, a flight paramedic and a flight nurse were uninjured in the emergency landing, an Air Angels dispatcher said. The cause of the accident was under investigation, and Gengler said National Transportation Safety Board investigators were en route to the scene Saturday afternoon.
Gengler could not estimate how fast Ofenloch was traveling at the time of the accident.
Ofenloch also was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence and was issued a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.