‘Ball of sunshine’: Friends mourn loss of teen killed in Glenview car crash
GLENVIEW, Ill. — The friends of 17-year-old Marko Niketic who was killed in a two-vehicle car crash in Glenview Sunday night remember him as a ‘glowing ball of sunshine.’
Glenview police say the crash occurred around 11 p.m. where Marko was driving a vehicle when a Ford Mustang slammed into his vehicle, splitting it in half. Niketic was pronounced dead on the scene, but his girlfriend survived.
A friend, Jacob Rueckert remembers Marko as being kind, funny and “like a glowing ball of sunshine.”
Nathan Clark, who witnessed the crash, says a driver flew past him at a high rate of speed and was turning their headlights on and off on the dark road before colliding with Marko’s vehicle.
“He was probably going about 90 (miles per hour) whenever he sped in front of me,” Clark said. “If I had to guess, he floored it and turned off his lights.”
17-year-old killed, 3 others injured in apparent high-speed crash in Glenview
Friends said Marko was expected to go to University of Miami in the fall, hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps and build his own business. They also said they imagined Marko’s final moments were spent protecting his girlfriend in the crash.
“Me and Preston are 100 percent sure that if he saw that car, he stepped on the gas, and put his hands over his girlfriend and making sure she was okay,” Jacob Rueckert said.
“Rest in peace Marko, me and all the boys will be up there one day, and it’ll be back to usual,” another friend Preston Shute said.
Police also said two people to area hospitals. The driver of the Mustang was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and the passengers of both vehicles are in critical condition, police say.
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