Des Plaines man killed after crashing into Niles police parking garage

NILES, Ill. (WLS) -- A Des Plaines man was killed after crashing into the Niles Police Department parking garage Wednesday morning, police said.

A Hyundai sedan was traveling at a high rate of speed southbound on Waukegan Road at about 12:06 a.m. when police said the driver was unable to make a left turn onto Milwaukee Avenue.

The car struck a curb, a ComEd pole and fencing for the Niles Police Department and down an embankment hitting the underground exit garage door of the department's campus, police said. The car landed upside down.

"That angle at a high rate of speed is very hard to navigate even at normal speeds, it's awkward,"said Niles Police Bureau Chief Robert Tornabene.

The fire department worked for about 15 minutes to cut the driver out of the car. The driver, identified as 22-year-old man Julian Hernandez from Des Plaines, was pronounced dead at the scene police said.

"It was hard to tell what kind of car it was. The only reason we knew it was a Hyundai is because we had the license plate and were able to identify the vehicle from that," Tornabene said..

Niles police said there were reports from Morton Grove police about a car speeding and ignoring traffic lights before the crash. Police said no police vehicles were involved in the crash and no one else was hurt.

It could take weeks for police to pin down why Hernandez crashed.

"There may be some impaired driving," Tornabene said. "We don't have anything that's preliminary yet. We have to wait for toxicology to come back from the ME's office."

The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force's Major Crash Assistance Team is investigating the crash.