Police and firefighters respond to crash at Golf and Rand roads in Des Plaines, Sunday, March 25, 2018. (Bob Wessell/Journal photo)
Maine East High School student Amel Dilji, 16, is recovering from serious injuries sustained in Sunday’s crash that took his sister, mother and father.
“He’s improved a lot. The prognosis is good,” Cmdr. Christopher Mierzwa of the Des Plaines Police Dept. said Wednesday. “He’s got a very strong family around him.”
Dilji, of the 8900 block of N. Parkside in unincorporated Des Plaines, is still being treated at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was transported following the crash.
While Dilji was driving northwest on Rand Road and attempting to make a left turn onto westbound Golf Road at approximately 6 p.m. Sunday, his family’s Volkswagen sedan and a Lexus sedan with one occupant, Des Plaines resident Ruslan Nairner, 38, collided. Nairner was traveling southeast at the time.
The Volkswagen was pushed off the roadway and into a heavily wooded area. Amra Dilji, 20, Serif Dilji, 57, and Edije Dilji, 48 or 53, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Prior to attending Maine East in Park Ridge, where Amra Dilji graduated from in 2015, both siblings attended Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary School in Des Plaines and Gemini Junior High School in Niles, both East Maine Elementary School Dist. 63 schools.
“It was extremely sad for all of us,” said Janet Spector Bishop, director of Dist. 63 communications. “Many of our staff members were here when they were students and it’s been very difficult for them.”
“We are all rooting for you Amel! With all our love and prayers, your Zenith Team from Gemini!” read a message from Gemini teacher Alyssa Horwitz on a gofundme.com page established for the family by Maine East student Trish Heramis. So far, page has already surpassed its initial $5,000 goal and has raised $11,141 toward its new, $15,000 goal.
Police are still investigating Sunday’s accident. Mierzwa said the investigation will continue for at least a few weeks. “It’s going to be a while,” he told the Journal & Topics.
Meanwhile, Cook County Medical Examiner’s autopsy results showed the three victims died of multiple blunt force injuries, or multiple injuries, suffered in the accidental crash.
Amra, Serif, Edjie and Amel Dilji, of unincorporated Des Plaines. (Photo via Instagram)