Driver believed to be Chicago cop* charged with reckless homicide
[Scoop: Casper reported to be Chicago cop]
By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
Two area teenagers died early Saturday morning in a three-car crash at 159th Street and Harlem Avenue that also injured three people.
Mohammed Shiab, 17, of Tinley Park, and Ahmad Shaban, 16, of Orland Park, died after a man believed to be an off-duty Chicago police officer broadsided their vehicle about 3 a.m. in the intersection, Tinley Park police said. On Saturday afternoon, their families buried the teens.
Jason Casper, 24, of Chicago, has been charged with two counts of reckless homicide in the incident.
Casper was driving east on 159th Street when the front of his car hit a Saturn on its driver’s side, killing the two back-seat passengers and injuring the driver and the front-seat passenger, Sgt. Steven Vaccaro said.
Authorities said Casper was speeding in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo and ran a red light when he broadsided the Saturn.
Tinley Park police would not say if alcohol or drugs was involved.
Casper was not seriously injured, police said. He was treated at and released from a local hospital. He is scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court in Bridgeview on Monday morning.
The driver of the Saturn, Ramzi Dar-Hussein, 29, of Justice, was badly injured and was taken to a local hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition, Tinley Park police said in a statement.
A third passenger, Rasim Taha, of Cincinnati, was listed in stable condition at another local hospital, the statement read.
The crash extended to a third vehicle, sending a passenger in that automobile to a local hospital with minor injuries, Vaccaro said.
Vaccaro would not comment on Casper’s occupation, but a Chicago police spokeswoman confirmed there is a 24-year-old Jason Casper working as an officer. She said Saturday evening she had not been notified of his arrest.
The Tinley Park Accident Investigation Unit continued to investigate the crash.
A family friend said the four were on their way back from work at a seafood restaurant.
The two boys, whose families are of Palestinian origin, had been friends a long time and attended Sandburg High School in Orland Park.
Shaban lived in the 7500 block of Tiffany Drive in Orland Park. He had a brother who helped support him and their mother since the death of their father a few years ago.
He was bright and funny, and although he didn’t love school, he worked hard and wanted to be able to help support his family, said the friend, who asked that his name be kept private.
Shiab, of the 16300 block of South 84th Avenue, was a senior in high school. He liked basketball and was an “all-around good guy,” the friend said, adding, “they both loved their families.”
If alcohol or drugs were involved in their deaths, it would be an irony of ironies, the friend said, since the boys took their Muslim religion seriously and never drank or did drugs.
“They would never pick up a beer,” he said.
Many loved ones gathered around two damp graves to bury their dead Saturday afternoon.
Lines of male mourners recited the janazah — funeral prayers — along with Imam Jamal Said before carrying the two caskets outside the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview.
According to Muslim tradition, the teens were taken to be buried as soon as possible. They were laid to rest in Parkholm Cemetery.
A concrete lid was placed over each sarcophagus containing a casket draped in light-colored fabric. A dump truck filled each hole with dirt, which mourners then tamped down with their feet. Some placed rocks and clumps of earth on the mounds.
Praying between the graves in the late afternoon, Said spoke of the fleeting nature of life, reminding mourners to spiritually prepare themselves for the end.
“Death is not only for the old,” he said. “It can happen to anyone. This is the time to realize that Allah does not differentiate between the young and old when he sends his angels.”
Clusters of men embraced each other, some crying, many comforting each other as the day’s sunlight began to wane.
“What can you do?” one said as he walked through the cemetery. “This is life.”
Contributing: Staff writer Daniel Duggan
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
