'I know that I stepped on the brake,' imprisoned Toyota driver says of deadly 2006 crash
Koua Fong Lee, the St. Paul man convicted in a fatal crash involving his Toyota Camry, said he still believes he did everything he could to stop the car.
"I know that I stepped on the brake," Lee said in an interview Friday at Lino Lakes state prison, where he is serving an eight-year sentence. "I was pressing it to the max, but it wasn't working."
The Hmong immigrant said he did not step on the accelerator instead of the brake that day in June 2006, as both his trial attorney and prosecutors contended.
A jury found that Koua Fong Lee had exhibited "gross negligence" and returned guilty verdicts on nine counts ranging from criminal vehicular homicide to careless driving. The crash killed three people.
But as recalls of newer Toyotas have reached 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — most for a threat of sudden acceleration — drivers of older cars say they've had similar problems.
"I think that might be the reason why I'm in here," Koua Fong Lee said, speaking through an interpreter.
His attorney said last week that he would seek to get the case re-examined.
Koua Fong Lee's car was a 1996 Camry that he and his wife had owned just a few months. It never gave him any trouble before, he said, and the previous owner, contacted last week, said she hadn't had any such thing happen as Koua Fong Lee describes. The current recalls involve Camrys made between 2007 and 2010, as well as other car and truck models.
Sitting in a prison conference room, Koua Fong Lee, now 32, gave much the same account of the crash as he had at his trial.
He and his family were heading home from church at about 4:30 on a pleasant June afternoon. His pregnant wife, their 4-year-old daughter, his brother and his father were in the car.
They took the Snelling Avenue exit from eastbound Interstate 94, where they had been traveling at highway speeds, he said at his 2007 trial.
When they got on the ramp and approached the red light at Snelling, he took his foot off the gas and pressed the brake, Koua Fong Lee said.
"When I stepped on the brake, nothing happened," he said. He yelled to his family that the brakes weren't working, swerved from the left lane to the middle and then to the right to avoid cars. It didn't work: He was unable to stop before crashing into an Oldsmobile Ciera at a speed as high as 90 mph, according to an accident-reconstruction expert.
The driver of the Oldsmobile, Javis Adams Sr., 33, and his son, Javis Adams Jr., 10, were killed instantly. Jassmine Adams, Javis Adams Sr.'s daughter, 13, has permanent leg damage; and his father, Quincy Adams, 57, suffered a head injury. His 6-year-old niece, Devyn Bolton, was left a quadriplegic and died the following year...
Complete article here
Koua Fong Lee, the St. Paul man convicted in a fatal crash involving his Toyota Camry, said he still believes he did everything he could to stop the car.
"I know that I stepped on the brake," Lee said in an interview Friday at Lino Lakes state prison, where he is serving an eight-year sentence. "I was pressing it to the max, but it wasn't working."
The Hmong immigrant said he did not step on the accelerator instead of the brake that day in June 2006, as both his trial attorney and prosecutors contended.
A jury found that Koua Fong Lee had exhibited "gross negligence" and returned guilty verdicts on nine counts ranging from criminal vehicular homicide to careless driving. The crash killed three people.
But as recalls of newer Toyotas have reached 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — most for a threat of sudden acceleration — drivers of older cars say they've had similar problems.
"I think that might be the reason why I'm in here," Koua Fong Lee said, speaking through an interpreter.
His attorney said last week that he would seek to get the case re-examined.
Koua Fong Lee's car was a 1996 Camry that he and his wife had owned just a few months. It never gave him any trouble before, he said, and the previous owner, contacted last week, said she hadn't had any such thing happen as Koua Fong Lee describes. The current recalls involve Camrys made between 2007 and 2010, as well as other car and truck models.
Sitting in a prison conference room, Koua Fong Lee, now 32, gave much the same account of the crash as he had at his trial.
He and his family were heading home from church at about 4:30 on a pleasant June afternoon. His pregnant wife, their 4-year-old daughter, his brother and his father were in the car.
They took the Snelling Avenue exit from eastbound Interstate 94, where they had been traveling at highway speeds, he said at his 2007 trial.
When they got on the ramp and approached the red light at Snelling, he took his foot off the gas and pressed the brake, Koua Fong Lee said.
"When I stepped on the brake, nothing happened," he said. He yelled to his family that the brakes weren't working, swerved from the left lane to the middle and then to the right to avoid cars. It didn't work: He was unable to stop before crashing into an Oldsmobile Ciera at a speed as high as 90 mph, according to an accident-reconstruction expert.
The driver of the Oldsmobile, Javis Adams Sr., 33, and his son, Javis Adams Jr., 10, were killed instantly. Jassmine Adams, Javis Adams Sr.'s daughter, 13, has permanent leg damage; and his father, Quincy Adams, 57, suffered a head injury. His 6-year-old niece, Devyn Bolton, was left a quadriplegic and died the following year...
Complete article here
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