Driver arrested for fatal pedestrian crash
Fairfax County Police have arrested the driver responsible for a fatal pedestrian crash in Annandale on Feb. 28.
Detectives from the Crash Reconstruction Unit have charged Lucas Lese, 20, of Springfield, with Failure to Stop for Pedestrians.
Lese was traveling westbound on John Marr Drive toward Ravensworth Road in a 2012 BMW when he struck Sun Hyo Kim, 56, of Annandale, who was crossing John Marr Drive from the south side to the north side.
Related story: Pedestrian struck on John Marr Drive has died
Kim was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced deceased. Lese was uninjured and remained on the scene.
Kim lived at Ravensworth Towers and worked as a manager for a Korean restaurant in Annandale.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Crash Reconstruction Unit at 703-280-0543.
Just wondering if the victim was crossing at the marked cross walks at each end of that portion of John Marr Drive, or in the middle of the block where the side walk on the south side of the street ends mid block?
It’s appalling to question the victim’s actions when they were killed crossing a very low speed limit street during the day (sunset that day was a half hour after the collision and there was no rain). The focus should be on the tragedy first, the drivers legal culpability second, and never on where the pedestrian was crossing.
God forbid we try to find out why and how this happened to prevent future occurrences.
It will be horrifying if we start prosecuting drivers for hitting jaywalkers.
Are you suggesting it should be open season on jaywalkers?
Are you suggesting that drivers who hit jaywalkers do so with intent?
Maybe we should have left the law against jaywalking in place, and enforce the law.
Legalizing jaywalking and prosecuting drivers for accidentally hitting them is insane.
So I’m hoping we agree that it’s ok to prosecute drivers who kill or injure jaywalkers for crimes that don’t require intent, but maybe recklessness, if there’s no intent. Agreed?
Until last summer, jaywalking was the crime; that’s my point. We are now exacerbating a problem by excusing it. Generally speaking, there is inherently no recklessness from the driver, who is on the road, which is for cars. There is inherently recklessness on the part of the pedestrian, who walks in the road. If the driver drives on the sidewalk, the driver is reckless. If a person walks in the road, the person is reckless. It’s common sense. Make jaywalking illegal again.
I agree with Eddie 100%
If the deceased pedestrian was in a crosswalk and was being safe I would convict the driver- distracted pedestrians
scootetr riders ebikeers deserve what they get
So if someone is jaywalking, a driver has no duty to avoid hitting them. Gotcha. I really hope neither you nor the other commenter cause a pedestrian injury because if you do, this will be exhibit #1 when either of you are charged with criminally reckless or negligent actions that lead to injury or death. It’s one thing if you can’t avoid hitting a pedestrian, it’s quite another to hit them just because they aren’t in a crosswalk. Love your neighbor. Don’t hit them because they aren’t walking in the right place.
Truthfully, I see so many distracted people both drivers and pedestrians on their cell phones. I will wait behind drivers after the light changes just sitting there . ” Hello! Off the computer please”! And I can’t say how many times I’ve waited while pedestrians are crossing talking in their cell phones not a care as to a car waiting for them to cross .There is nothing that important that you can’t wait till you can pull over or get across safely. I think distractions play a big part in so many accidents such as this and many are so preventable .
I suspect because the driver was arrested, the pedestrian was in a crosswalk. Or given the passage of time, the police/commonwealth’s atty accessed the drivers cell hone records and determined texting or some other distraction.
Regardless, it is a tragedy and really reminds me of decades ago being taught to look both ways before crossing even in a crosswalk because you could be right, dead right. That’s really what they said. I reinforced this with my kids and emphasized to always make eye contact with the driver before you step in front of them..
The problem with jaywalkers is that people can be killed when drivers swerve (or stop) to avoid them, especially when the jaywalkers seemingly come out of nowhere. It’s intellectually dishonest to suggest drivers would intentionally hit pedestrians. Do you really think your fellow neighbors would kill a stranger on purpose??
side curtain air bags cause a blind spot at each front corner big enough to hide a truck.
pedestrians must look at the driver for real safety
I think the point of all these comments is that we need more details on this horrible tragedy. Is there any way to find out if she was in a crosswalk, which part of John Marr was the incident, was the driver distracted, etc? It would help the folks who drive and walk in that area because we need to understand how it and why it happened, and so that maybe improvements can be made so that it doesn’t occur again.