Suit: Man boasted need for speed on Facebook before getting into crash

BY BILL BIRD Sun-Times Media wbird@stmedianetwork.com October 11, 2011 4:38PM

Updated: October 11, 2011 10:51PM

A Naperville man whose car struck a couple as they rode a motorcycle last month had posted photos on Facebook shortly before the accident touting how he was “ready to drive at 90 mph,” according to a lawsuit filed by the driver of the motorcycle.

Aurora residents Michael Dunker and Corrine Smith, both 60, were severely injured Sept. 9 in the crash in Naperville. Dunker was driving a 2005 Harley-Davidson and Smith was his passenger. The motorcycle was hit by a black, 2004 Honda Accord being driven by Revanth Vema, 28. Naperville police said Vema crossed the center line on Warrenville Roadand struck another car before slamming into the stopped motorcycle.

He is awaiting trial on a charge of driving on the wrong side of the road.

Attorney Jeffrey J. Kroll, who represents Dunker and Smith, said several pre-crash photographs of the Accord were posted on Vema’s Facebook page with the caption about driving 90 mph. Kroll said he didn’t know how fast Vema was going at the time of the accident, “but according to various eyewitness accounts, the car was traveling at a very high rate of speed.”

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