Cash was flying out the windows of a red Porsche on the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway before a fatal wrong-way accident, a witness said Tuesday.
Danita Eisenbise, an Aurora resident, said she was traveling on eastbound I-88 to visit her sister Saturday evening when she caught a glimpse of a slow-moving, late-model red Porsche near the Route 59 exit.
“I started seeing money flying all over the road,” she said. “I thought it was obviously very strange.”
She said soon after, three cars quickly pulled off to the shoulder, likely to try to pick up the cash, almost causing an accident.
Eisenbise said she continued to see cash fly around the highway before coming up to the Porsche.
“(The car) caught my attention because he was going real slow, probably 40,” she said, adding the car was swerving all over the mostly empty roadway.
“As I was going past him, he was rifling around his passenger seat and picked up a handful of cash and threw it out the window,” she said.
She said the driver’s unusual behavior and erratic driving caused her to call police.
After Eisenbise passed, the Porsche used an emergency vehicle turnaround just next to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle to cross into the westbound lanes about 6:28 p.m. Saturday, police said.
The car continued traveling east and struck a 2004 silver Toyota Corolla, killing two Elmhurst residents and severely injured one other. The driver of the red 2006 Porsche, a 43-year-old Naperville man, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
No charges have been filed and the identity of the Porsche driver has not been released.
Illinois State Police continue to investigate the crash.
“The investigation is ongoing and there are witness statements that describe U.S. currency emanating from the vehicle. No determination has been made on any cause or motive at this point in the investigation,” State police spokeswoman Monique Bond said via email.
The driver of the Porsche remained in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital late Monday. A hospital spokesman was not available Tuesday morning.
