By Madina Toure
A Long Island man admitted to having several drinks at a bar and driving over the speed limit in his Porsche Cayman before slamming into the rear of a parked school bus in Flushing and killing the woman in the passenger seat, the Queens district attorney said.
Nara An, 24, a visitor from South Korea, had been staying at the home of her fiancé on Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing since October and was planning to return home at the end of the month, police said.
The driver, Kyung Song, 29, of Island Park, L.I., was driving his $60,000 sports car with An as his passenger. After a night of drinking, he was heading west on Sanford Avenue at about 3:30 a.m. Dec. 18 when he hit a parked bus, according to the NYPD.
Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx said Song worked in the hospital pharmacy as a trainee for three weeks in May.
Song allegedly admitted that he was driving 33 miles per hour when he was coming around the turn and that his tire slipped due to a curve in the road, causing him to hit the back of the bus, according to the criminal complaint filed by Queens DA Richard Brown. He said An had asked him to slow down.
He also admitted that the woman told him to slow down and that they had been coming from a bar where he drank six beers and three shots of liquor, according to the complaint.
The collision occurred on a residential street in front of PS 22, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, where the speed limit at the time of the accident was 25 miles per hour, according to the complaint.
Song is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the DA said.
He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens and was listed as being in stable condition, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
Police said Song had a blood alcohol content of nearly twice the legal limit.
A police officer from the 109th Precinct saw a 2014 Porsche with severe front-end damage that had struck a parked yellow school bus, the complaint said.
Song, who was in the driver’s seat, was unconscious and an unidentified Asian female in the passenger’s seat did not appear to be breathing or moving, the complaint said.
The driver was removed from the vehicle and placed into an ambulance for transport to the hospital, the complaint continued.
The woman, who suffered massive head injuries, was pronounced dead at 3:51 a.m., the complaint added.
The officer said Song looked intoxicated, with bloodshot watery eyes and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, according to the complaint.
A portable breath test was administered to Song, with results indicating that he had a blood alcohol content of .176, the complaint said. When he was asked if he would submit to a blood test, he allegedly refused.
Song was previously convicted of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs on April 7, 2010 in Nassau County, the complaint said.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
