Car Takes Out Gazebo at Plainfield Park

A car crashed into the gazebo at Old Renwick Trail Park, destroying the structure late Saturday, officials said.

Plainfield Park District spokesman Doug Booth the gazebo has been completely dismantled for safety reasons and will have to be rebuilt.

According to a resident who lives near the park, the crash occurred at around 9:30 p.m. Saturday after neighbors spotted a car speeding through the Old Renwick Trail subdivision in Joliet.

The car, a white Mitsubishi Galant, crashed into the gazebo and came to rest underneath it.

"I live on the opposite corner of the park, and was walking home from a neighbor’s house when I, along with several others, noticed a white car racing down Old Renwick Trail, heading south, ignoring stop signs, going at least 50-60 miles an hour," a neighbor said in an email to Patch. "Within minutes, the same car came racing back, heading north. About 20 minutes later, the crash occurred. Several neighbors noted the young driver of the car was laughing, and telling his friends to take pictures, and post it on Twitter."

The woman said a group of girls had been sitting at the picnic table under the gazebo but left mere minutes before the crash.

"[The crash] had to be with a good deal of force, because this is a metal structure," Booth said of the gazebo, which was torn down on Sunday.

Booth said Superintendent of Parks Gene Coldwater got called to the scene shortly before midnight Saturday.

"On Sunday, [crews] went out with a frontloader and make sure it was on the ground so nobody could walk under it," Booth said. "It was clearly unstable."

He said the gazebo is presumed to be a complete loss, and will be rebuilt once the park district is able to provide police reports to its insurance company.

Joliet police did not immediately respond to a message from Patch regarding the crash.