Crash vic may go to graduation

The woman accused of severing 18-year-old Andrew Tsai’s leg in a domino-effect car crash on February 27 has been arraigned on charges of fleeing the scene of one auto accident and then causing a second accident moments later, as her victim recuperates in Bellevue Hospital with dreams of attending his graduation in June.
“We have every hope that Tsai will attend graduation as he intends to,” said Francis Lewis High School principal Jeffrey Scherr, who visits his student once a week.
Zong Ling Zhu, 48, of Fresh Meadows, who developed a viral infection, was arraigned at her bedside at Elmhurst General Hospital on charges of assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment in the first degree and leaving the scene of an accident without reporting/property damage. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
According to reports, Zhu was driving a gold Toyota Sienna minivan when she collided with another vehicle at the intersection of 188th Street and 58th Avenue. She allegedly fled the scene, leaving behind her front license plate, and drove westbound on 58th Avenue. A few minutes later, she approached the intersection of 58th Avenue and Utopia Parkway at a high rate of speed. She ran a red light without stopping and slammed into a Ford van stopped at said light.
The impact sent the van spinning into Tsai, pinning him to a wrought iron fence.
Tsai, a student at Francis Lewis High School, was crossing the street on his way to school at the time of the accident.
He suffered a severed right leg, multiple fractures and tissue damage to the other leg and other injuries as a result of the collision. He remains in Bellevue Hospital, where he has received skin grafts, has been measured for a prosthetic leg, and is undergoing rehabilitation.
As for his school work, Tsai has kept up with his classmates by receiving assistance through the school at Bellevue and through a home-bound teacher.
He has been accepted to both Baruch College and St. John’s University.
The school will hold a “Sports Challenge” on June 2 with all proceeds going to Tsai’s recovery.