WEST TOWN — A nightclub promoter is accused of driving his BMW off a West Town road, flipping it and sending it crashing down 25 feet — and then hailing a cab and fleeing while his injured passengers were still in his car, prosecutors and sources said.

One of Philip Cho's passengers, a friend of a friend, suffered a spinal injury in the early Sunday crash and is now paralyzed from the waist down, authorities said.

Another passenger's thumb was severed. A third suffered broken vertebra, authorities said.

Erin Meyer says investigators are still looking into Cho's activities at the club, and additional charges are possible:

His passengers had asked Cho, 28, to slow down as he sped away from The MID nightclub, but he hit the gas and crashed at the end of the 700 block of West Erie, an industrial area near train tracks and the north branch of the Chicago River, prosecutors said.

Kelsey Ibach, 25, was "left to die" when an aquaintence behind the wheel of the car she was in riding in drove off the end of a road in West Town and ran away without calling 911, her father said. View Full Caption Facebook/Kelsey Ibach

Before the Naperville man fled and caught a cab, he allegedly told his injured friends to tell police he had been carjacked, prosecutors said. They begged him to call an ambulance, but he ignored their pleas, prosecutors said.

"This defendant allegedly left a young lady who is now a paraplegic crying for help and left," Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas said before ordering Cho — charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries — held on $200,000 bail.

The paralyzed woman is 25-year-old Kelsey Ibach of Lakeview. Her father, Bob Ibach of Arlington Heights, questioned how anyone could leave the crash.

"What type of man flees the scene ... catches a cab to the suburbs, and leave four friends in the street to die?" Bob Ibach said. "I'll tell you what kind of man does that: a coward does that."

Prosecutors said they believe the group was out Saturday night and early Sunday morning at The MID, a West Loop club at 306 N. Halsted St.

Prosecutors said Cho works in an unofficial capacity as a club promoter for The MID and is rewarded for his efforts with drinks. A warrant was issued for video surveillance footage taken in the club the night of the crash. Officials at The MID did not return a message seeking comment.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said Cho speeded up the 700 block of West Erie Sunday shortly before 4 a.m. in a 2008 BMW, even as his passengers called on him to slow down, she said.

He lost control of the car, drove up onto an embankment, through a barrier and off the end of the road, Scaduto said. The car fell more than 25 feet, landing upside down on the ground below.

Before fleeing, Cho reportedly told his friends, "If anyone asks, I was hijacked. The car was taken, OK?" Scaduto said.

Ibach pleaded with Cho to call an ambulance, prosecutors said. He refused, but an unidentified good Samaritan — who also captured the scene in a cellphone video — called 911.

In addition to her spinal injury, Ibach suffered broken ribs, prosecutors said. One of the injured passengers dragged Ibach out of the car. Another passenger's thumb was severed in the accident, and a third sustained two fractured vertebra and broken ribs, prosecutors said.

Bob Ibach said his full focus is on his daughter's recovery. Her family is asking for contributions to help pay her medical bills through a gofundme.com campaign.

Cho turned himself into police Saturday and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and failing to reduce speed.

Prosecutors said Cho had been charged with a DUI in 2008, when he also was accused of fleeing the scene. Those charged were dismissed for unknown reasons.

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