Funeral set for Hoffman Estates accident victim

A wake will be held Monday for Christopher Vega, the 20-year-old Hoffman Estates college student and former Conant High School football player who died in a rollover accident on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway early Saturday morning.

On Sunday, Illinois State Police were still investigating the cause of one-car crash, which also seriously injured the driver of the car, a man in his 20s who has not been identified.

The man was listed in serious condition at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights Sunday, with what police described as nonlife threatening but serious internal injuries.

Vega was the passenger in a 1999 Toyota Camry that rolled over as it approached the westbound Arlington Heights Road exit ramp at 4:30 a.m.

According to Illinois State Police, the vehicle missed the ramp and proceeded downhill into a ditch, striking a metal gate and rolling over.

Neither Vega nor the driver were wearing seat belts, police said.

Friends expressed shock and sadness at Vega's death.

Aramis Hatch, a friend of Vega's from Conant High School, said he and Vega had been friends for 15 years and that Vega was a Harper College student.

In high school, Vega was involved in athletics, Hatch said. He liked to play basketball and was a member of Conant High School junior varsity football team.

“He was very outgoing. He liked to joke. He liked to laugh. He really liked to laugh,” said another one of Vega's friends, Jeremy Silas.

Silas said he saw Vega just hours before the accident.

“We were just having a good time, watching the Bulls play Boston,” Silas said.

Silas said one of his friend's goals was to play football for Harper College.

The wake for Vega will be from 3 t o 9 p.m. today at Michaels Funeral Home, 800 S. Roselle Road, in Schaumburg.

The funeral will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday and continue at 10 a.m. at St. Matthew Catholic Church 1001 E. Schaumburg Road, in Schaumburg. Internment will be at St. Michael Cemetery, 1185 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine.