Car crash leaves one dead, two injured

An auto accident early yesterday morning proved to be fatal for a 21-year-old woman, while two others sustained injuries, according to the Department of Public Safety.

DPS acting public information officer Captain Pete C. Muna disclosed that the vehicle involved in the incident, a white Toyota Tercel, was traveling along Beach Road Susupe when it geared off the road and struck a flame tree. It was found resting against the tree on the shoulder of the southbound lane by the Susupe Regional Beach Park.

Medics were immediately dispatched to the scene and transported the three occupants of the vehicle to the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment. One of the passengers, Jung Soon Lee, was pronounced dead upon arrival.

“According to the [responding] officer, there were tire marks leading from the vehicle’s resting point to the northbound lanes on the curve by the Mobil gas station,” he said.

Muna indicated that it was raining and the road was wet during the time the responding officer arrived at the scene.

Police report indicated that upon arriving at the scene, the responding officer was approached by a woman who “told him that an ambulance was needed because there were people trapped inside the vehicle.”

Muna said the officer then approached the vehicle, shined his flashlight in the car, and saw a woman upside down in the rear seat.

“Her head was underneath the driver’s seat and her legs were lying against the rear deck board, and she was bleeding heavily around her face, nose and mouth,” he said.

The woman was later identified as 21-year-old Jon Poo Park, who sustained fractures, lacerations on her face, and head injury.

Muna said the driver of the vehicle, 25-year-old Gyu Jin Kim, “was found laying side ways on the driver’s seat, with her upper body leaning toward the center console with blood all over her face.” She sustained fractures on her ankle, fibula, hip and pelvis.

Lee, meanwhile, was found sitting side ways on the front passenger seat.

“Her head and neck were leaning to the rear behind the driver’s head restraint,” Muna said. “Her eyes were open but there was no indication of her breathing. She was bleeding from her face.”

Muna said the responding officer tried to open all the doors of the vehicle to help the victims and apply first aid, but all the doors were locked and windows were rolled up.

Further, Muna noted that after the three women were removed from the vehicle, officers found that the floorboard beneath the driver’s section was “dented inward and upward” while the dashboard was “pushed inward.”

The incident was reported to the DPS at about 3:20am. It was the eighth auto-related fatality recorded this year, one more than the total number recorded last year. Last May 31, a 29-year-old man was pronounced dead after slamming a black 1997 Toyota Four-door 4Runner against a flame tree in Susupe by the Kilili Beach area.