Two worlds collide on tollway, leaving family devastated

Driver of car going wrong way had troubled past; those killed in crash had looked forward to the future

By Brian Slodysko and, Tribune reporters – August 14, 2011

Out of work for 18 months and dealing with the foreclosure of his house, Dr. William Howe slowed his late model, red Porsche in the eastbound lanes of the Reagan Memorial Tollway, according to police and court documents.

Then the Naperville dentist did something that caught the attention of passing motorists. As he approached the emergency vehicle turnaround near Morton Arboretum, he started tossing cash out the car windows and pulled into the crossing, witnesses said.

Also on the Reagan, traveling west in two cars, were the extended families of Sherali Shalwani, a Pakistan native. They were a short distance east of where the Porsche had pulled onto the median. The families were traveling to a prayer service at the Ismaili Jamatkhana Community Center in Naperville. It was near dusk on Aug. 6, almost 6:30 p.m.

It’s unclear whether Howe, 43, stopped in the turnaround or merely paused there for a few moments. Police decline to comment but said that shortly afterward, he turned the car into westbound traffic and headed east, straight into the oncoming traffic.

At about that moment, Farzana Ali, riding with her husband and her father, Shalwani, in a silver 2004 Toyota Corolla, texted her sister in a car a few lengths behind. Farzana suggested they all have a picnic.

Her sister, Afrose Merchant, got the text message even as she heard the sounds of metal exploding in a horrific crash. The Porsche had slammed into Ali’s Toyota head-on, killing her and her father and critically injuring her husband, who was driving.

–snip– The text that may have been Farzana Ali’s last act was in character for her. Relatives and friends said she had an abiding devotion to her family and the Ismaili Jamatkhana center, her place of worship. Her parents, who arrived from Pakistan in 1996, lived with her and her husband and their 14-year-old son in Elmhurst. Farzana’s sister Afrose and her family live down the street.

–snip— “She was the sweetest person you’d ever meet” said Ali’s other sister, Shazleen Vargas, of Lombard. “She was known as the girl who smiled at everybody.”

On Wednesday, more than 1,000 people attended the funerals of Farzana Ali and Sherali Shalwani in Des Plaines, friends said.

Family friend Nizar Jiwani called Ali “a dedicated mother and wife and very active volunteer” in the Muslim community. Ali, her husband, Karim, and their son routinely helped at the Naperville center, Jiwani said. She loved to sing and taught children at the center religious songs and hymns, Jiwani added.

More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-porsche-folo-20110814,0,7376857.story
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-07/news/chi-2-killed-2-seriously-hurt-in-wrongway-crash-on-tollway-20110807_1_wrong-way-crash-porsche-life-threatening-injuries

(إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ) – ‘Surely we belong to Allah and to Him shall we return’ 2:156