Judge orders supervision for speeder who had to go

WHEATON — A motorist who tried to persuade Naperville police he was driving his car at nearly 100 mph because he desperately needed to find a rest room has been sentenced to court supervision.

Anuj K. Shahi of Brookfield was ticketed early last month for speeding, after a Naperville patrol officer discovered him driving 96 mph in a 40 mph zone.

Cmdr. Mike Anders, the police department's media spokesman, said Shahi's excuse to the officer was that "he had to use the bathroom very badly."

Shahi, 36, pleaded guilty in the DuPage County Circuit Court's Wheaton field court to a misdemeanor charge of speeding 40 mph or more over the limit, according to court records.

Judge George J. Sotos accepted the plea, sentencing Shahi to court supervision through March 31, court records indicated. Sotos on Oct. 14 also fined Shahi $300.

Anders said a patrol officer using radar equipment stopped Shahi about 1:24 p.m. Sept. 2, after noting his 2007 Lexus LS350 "just flying down the street." The car at the time was westbound on Diehl Road and approaching Fisher Drive, in the Country Lakes area of Naperville's far northwest side.

The radar reading showed the car was moving at 96 mph, Anders said. That is more than twice the area's posted speed limit.

Shahi was sober at the time, Anders said. He added after Shahi was brought to the police station for processing, "he told the officer he no longer needed to use the bathroom."

Court records indicated Shahi had no prior record in DuPage County. He faced a maximum penalty of a year in jail.