Alleged drag-racer still in jail

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
August 12, 2012

The man accused of drag-racing that may have involved a double-fatality, single-vehicle crash on July 1 remains in the McHenry County Jail.

Daniel Huber, 20, was arrested last week and charged with two felonies, after a McHenry County Sheriff's Department accident investigation team identified that he may have been racing with Alec Kaiser, 20, who was driving a car owned by the family of his passenger, Jacob Norys, 20, when it crashed on Davis Road, west of Dean Street in rural Woodstock. Both Kaiser and Norys died in the crash.

Huber, locally known as "Potatoe" and so identified in Kaiser's cell phone directory, had met with Kaiser and Norys at the Mobil station on Route 47, on the south end of Woodstock. After a conversation there, the boys headed west on Davis Road. As they left the gas station, Huber was following Kaiser, according to an article in the Northwest Herald.

The crash time has been reported as 2:02AM, but it may have been 1-2 minutes before that, assuming it takes moments to interpret an outside sound and for the sheriff's department to be contacted.

Kaiser's cell phone showed an outgoing call to "Potatoe" at 1:58AM. Presumably, the accident investigation team obtained cell phone records that show the duration of that call and will attempt to determine whether Kaiser and Huber were talking on their cell phones at the time of the crash.

Was Huber in front of Kaiser? When he reached the next intersection at Davis Road and Stieg Road, only a short distance west of the crash site, did he not wonder why Kaiser wasn't still behind him?

Or was Huber following Kaiser? Did he see Kaiser's vehicle leave the roadway and then just drive on by?

A person in a vehicle at Davis Road and Stieg Road reported that he heard the crash. MCSD reports indicate he drove east on Davis Road to the crash site, phoned in the crash and left. That person's name in the MCSD report is not Huber's name.

Have the investigator's looked closely at this unusual coincidence? What is the likelihood that a car would be at that intersection at 2:00AM, just at the time of the crash, and then the driver would find the crashed car but drive away after calling in the crash. That driver did not report seeing any other car. Is there not some law that requires a person, even if not involved, to attempt to render aid?

Why didn't that person report seeing Huber's car? Is there any chance that Huber wasn't racing Kaiser west from Dean Street? Did Huber turn north or south at Dean Street, or even make a U-turn and go back east on Davis Road?

Or is there yet another possibility?

On Friday, August 10, a McHenry County Public Defender was appointed by Judge Gordon Graham for Huber, who remains in custody in the McHenry County Jail on $100,000 bail. A 10% bond of $10,000 will get him out.

Huber has a court date on August 14 on a Motion to Reduce Bond. Because Huber is charged with two felonies, his Motion will be heard by Judge Prather on the morning call.