A recent law school graduate died early Sunday when he crashed his car less than a mile from his home.

Baha El-Eid, 27, of 54 Harrison Drive was on his way home at 12:36 a.m. when he lost control of his 2004 Acura while traveling west on Boundline Road, police said.

Police said El Eid was negotiating a corner at "a high rate of speed" when the car started to slide sideways and struck a curb at the corner of Homewood Place. The Acura went airborne about six to eight feet while in a continuous roll.

Roof first, the car collided with a tree about 60 feet away from the curb, police said. Most of the car was wrapped around the tree, with parts of it scattered around a 30-foot radius.

Jack Synnott of 5 Homewood Place said he wasn't sure what he heard outside in front of his house.

"The sound was so horrific," he said.

Synnott, who had just gone to bed, said he turned on a light and went outside. He could see the car about 100 feet way, but it was so mangled he couldn't tell what had happened.

A police officer with a flash light was walking toward the car, he said.

"Can you hear me? Can you hear me?" the officer repeated, but got no answer, Synnott said.

Police said acting Sgt. Leonard Greene and Officer James Levanti, the first officers on scene, determined El-Eid was dead.

All day Sunday, dozens of family and friends gathered at the El-Eid home to comfort one another. They said El Eid, known to those close to him as "B.G.," was not a reckless driver.

The oldest of four siblings, El Eid graduated Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island in June, and was looking for work in Connecticut close to his large Lebanese family.

He read all the time and was a good student, double majoring at Central Connecticut State University before he was accepted to law school. He was a role model to his younger brother and two sisters, with whom he was very close.

Earlier in the day Saturday, before going out, he watched a college football game with his brother, Jason. The brothers, who were both born in Nebraska, cheered for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a victory against Iowa State.

Nadene El-Eid, who at 19 is the youngest of the four children in the family, said she spoke to her brother before she left for a party. As usual he had advice for her.

"Don't make me worry about you," she recalled him saying, her eyes swollen from crying.

Baha El-Eid's body was taken to the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner for an autopsy. A team from the Central Naugatuck Valley Regional Accident Investigation Team is investigating the crash. Police Capt. Domenic Angiolillo said speed was a factor. The speed limit on the road is 25 mph.

Natalie El-Eid, Baha El-Eid's 20-year-old sister, said when police knocked on the family's door at about 1:30 a.m., "They didn't say anything."

"Is B.G. OK?" she asked.

"No," one of them said.

"My world just crashed," she said.

Hours after the accident, more family members were on their way, including grandparents from California. There was no consoling the now three siblings.

"He took our hearts with him," Natalie El-Eid said.