CHICAGO – A Northbrook man is accused of driving nearly 90 mph above the posted speed limit, while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, when he crashed into another car, killing 17-year-old Marko Niketic.

The crash happened just before 11:10 p.m. Sunday night in the 1200 block of East Lake Avenue in Glenview.

The Glenbrook South High School senior was driving with his 16-year-old girlfriend, who was critically injured in the crash, when prosecutors said Taeyoung Kim, 21, hit him as he was turning left from Meadow Lane onto East Lake Avenue. The impact was so violent, that it split Niketic’s car in half, with part of the vehicle ending up in the road, and the back half, crashing through a fence into a nearby backyard.

Niketic was pronounced dead at the scene and his girlfriend sustained serious injuries.

Court documents showed Niketic’s girlfriend sustained a fracture of the pelvis vertebrae, hyper-density of the left frontal lobe of the brain with loss of consciousness and seizure, a hematoma of the brain, and a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She was released from the hospital five days after the crash.

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The passenger in Kim’s car suffered a fracture to his back and a severed artery, prosecutors said. The suspect fractured his femur in the crash. He was brought into the courtroom Saturday in a wheelchair.

Throughout the hearing, Kim vomited several times, with his attorney apologizing and citing him being heavily medicated due to his injuries as the cause.

According to prosecutors, at least two witnesses saw the suspect in the driver’s seat of the Mustang after the crash. He told one witness his first name and admitted he had been drinking. A blood draw revealed Kim’s blood was drawn, and his blood alcohol level converted was 0.088, with cannabis also showing in his system.

Prosecutors allege the suspect’s dash camera on his Mustang captured events before the crash and portions of it.

Earlier in the night, around 8 p.m., court documents revealed the dash camera showed the Mustang driving near Kim’s home and traveling into downtown Chicago.

Just before 11 p.m., it’s alleged the suspect ran a red light in Chicago at Roosevelt Road. It then drove at a high rate of speed on Ida B. Wells Drive, passing numerous vehicles and making a U-turn on Ida B. Wells at one point. Kim reportedly merged onto the outbound Kennedy Expressway toward Wisconsin at a high rate of speed, passing numerous vehicles, and eventually traveling onto the outbound Edens until it reached Lake Avenue in Glenview around 11:06 p.m.

Court documents allege the suspect drove westbound, passing another driver, who told investigators they saw the Mustang increase speed and turn off its headlights. Dash camera video reportedly showed the Mustang increase its speed and turn off the headlights, continuing toward the intersection of Lake and Meadow, where the crash happened.

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Private home surveillance video in the area showed Niketic activate his turn signal and begin to enter the intersection to turn left, according to a detention proffer. Just as the suspect was entering the intersection, his lights turned back on and then the crash happened.

According to prosecutors, a search warrant was executed on the black box from Kim’s car, which showed he was driving at a speed of 131 mph 2.5 seconds before the crash and was driving at 122 mph when he hit Niketic’s car.

The speed limit in the area is 35 mph.

Prosecutors said police also found the needle in his car stuck at the maximum speed of 120 mph, and inside the car, they found a bong, rolling papers, a one-hitter cannabis pipe with cannabis residue, as well as two plastic containers with cannabis residue.

The family of Niketic and his girlfriend were both in court on Saturday. While both left after the emotional details were shared, family of Kim offered their condolences and sympathies through their son’s attorney, who translated for them.

“They feel very sick about this,” said Kim’s attorney, James Hyun. “They feel very horrible about this incident; they’re sick, they’re shell-shocked. Our condolences, as well as Mr. Kim’s condolences, goes out to all the victims; the deceased, as well as the two victims who were injured as a result of this.”

Kim’s father, a commercial truck driver, said he also blames himself. On that night he said he spoke to his son about safe driving.

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“We’re very apologetic. There’s no words that can describe what happened,” said Kim’s father.

Judge David Kelly said the allegations show Kim’s actions displayed a “brazen disregard for human life.”

Hyun argued he has no criminal history or juvenile record, only that he had two petty traffic offenses from Lake County in 2021, including for speeding and disregarding a traffic control device, which he received supervision for.

“This is something in which the background of Mr. Kim doesn’t show any act of recklessness on his part,” said Hyun. “This is obviously very tragic times for everybody in the community.”

Based on what he heard in court, Kelly said, there is clear proof that Kim’s actions displayed a risk to public safety and that this appeared to be entirely preventable. He ordered the defendant held, with the next court date set for May 24.

Hyun said they would review the judge’s ruling and take the next steps from there, but did not comment on the case and allegations specifically.

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“I was just called last night. I was not retained until last night,” said Hyun. “We made our arguments in terms of mitigation. I don’t believe that he is a flight risk to the community. He is a full-time student at University of Illinois studying archaeology.”

Kim is charged with aggravated driving under the influence causing death, reckless homicide, aggravated driving under the influence causing great bodily harm, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol level over .08, driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, speeding, driving without lights when required, improper lane usage, and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

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