Aug. 26--A Geneva man who crashed his car into a water-filled quarry, causing two friends to drown, entered a guilty plea Wednesday to aggravated driving under the influence, DuPage County prosecutors said.
Michael Szot, 22, faces six to 28 years in prison for causing the deaths of Mihirtej Boddupalli, 21, of Lisle, and Sajaad Syed, 21, of Naperville. Under the law, he could also receive a sentence of probation if the judge finds "extraordinary circumstance" in the case.
"This morning Michael Szot took responsibility for the tragic deaths of his two friends, Sajaad Syed and Mihirtej Boddupalli," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. "His admission, however, can never erase what happened that evening and how his extremely bad decision to get behind the wheel of a car after he had been drinking and smoking marijuana took two young, promising lives."
Szot, who remained free on $25,000 cash bond, is scheduled to return to court Oct. 2. At that appearance, Judge Brian Telander will likely set a date for sentencing.
Boddupalli and Syed, both college students, drowned in the quarry lake in Naperville on July 19, 2014, when Szot lost control of the car he was driving, and it went down an embankment and plunged into the 40-foot-deep lake near downtown Naperville.
According to court files, Szot was able to escape the car and swim to shore and later told police he could hear the screams of his trapped friends.
Authorities say Szot had been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana the night of the accident. He had picked up his two friends and they had attended a party before going to a Naperville bar where Szot reportedly drank shots of rum and up to nine beers, according to court files.
They left about 1:30 a.m., and Szot's car looked like a white streak when it went through the intersection of Aurora Avenue and Eagle Street in the moments before the crash, according to a motorist's description. Authorities said Szot made no attempt to save his passengers and initially told police he was not driving the car.
Szot and Boddupalli attended Northwestern University. Syed was a student at Indiana University.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
