Deadly crash: Mom posts $2 million bail to free Chinese student
SEATTLE - A Chinese student charged with causing a crash that killed one woman and injured four other people last year has been released from King County jail after his family posted his $2 million bail with a cashier's check.
The student, Yichun Xu, 19, allegedly drove a newly purchased Mercedes-Benz at high speeds through residential neighborhoods of Des Moines on Nov. 10 before running a stop sign and crashing into another car.
He pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and other charges on Dec. 6 and was ordered held in the King County jail on $2 million bail. The bail was set at a high amount due to fears that Xu would flee to China if released.
But during a bail hearing on Friday, Xu’s mother posted a cashier’s check for the total amount of the bail, said Ian Goodhew of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Xu was released as soon as the check was verified and was ordered to surrender his passport.
Goodhew said it is rare for defendants to post bail of such a high amount.
According to court documents, on Nov. 10 Xu was driving with four women, ranging from 17- to 19-years-old, in his car. Xu is a Chinese citizen who was visiting the United States for eight weeks to attend a local community college. He had purchased a 2008 Mercedes C300 four days earlier but did not have a valid Washington driver’s license and later told police he had never driven in the United States, investigators said.
Xu was reportedly speeding on 20th Avenue South when he ran a stop sign at South 240th Street and slammed into the driver’s side door of a car that had the right-of-way. According to court documents, damage at the scene revealed Xu was likely “driving at freeway speeds.”
The woman driving the car that Xu struck - Brenda Gomez - was headed to a birthday party with four family members. Gomez suffered a traumatic brain injury and died on Nov. 19.
Gomez's 14-year-old brother, who was also in the car, suffered a traumatic brain injury as well but was not killed. He has undergone at least two surgeries since the crash.
A 14-year-old girl in the car suffered multiple rib fractures and pulmonary bruising. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Another 14-year-old girl in the car suffered a broken collarbone and a 17-year-old boy suffered soft tissue injuries, according to charging documents.
Xu was taken to Harborview Medical Center after the accident and later was booked into King County Jail.
The four women in Xu’s car suffered only minor injuries. Empty alcohol containers were found in the car but prosecutors believe they were from a party Xu and his friends were at the night before, and are not connected to the crash.
Xu is also charged with three counts of vehicular assault and two counts of reckless endangerment.
The student, Yichun Xu, 19, allegedly drove a newly purchased Mercedes-Benz at high speeds through residential neighborhoods of Des Moines on Nov. 10 before running a stop sign and crashing into another car.
He pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and other charges on Dec. 6 and was ordered held in the King County jail on $2 million bail. The bail was set at a high amount due to fears that Xu would flee to China if released.
But during a bail hearing on Friday, Xu’s mother posted a cashier’s check for the total amount of the bail, said Ian Goodhew of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Xu was released as soon as the check was verified and was ordered to surrender his passport.
Goodhew said it is rare for defendants to post bail of such a high amount.
According to court documents, on Nov. 10 Xu was driving with four women, ranging from 17- to 19-years-old, in his car. Xu is a Chinese citizen who was visiting the United States for eight weeks to attend a local community college. He had purchased a 2008 Mercedes C300 four days earlier but did not have a valid Washington driver’s license and later told police he had never driven in the United States, investigators said.
Xu was reportedly speeding on 20th Avenue South when he ran a stop sign at South 240th Street and slammed into the driver’s side door of a car that had the right-of-way. According to court documents, damage at the scene revealed Xu was likely “driving at freeway speeds.”
The woman driving the car that Xu struck - Brenda Gomez - was headed to a birthday party with four family members. Gomez suffered a traumatic brain injury and died on Nov. 19.
Gomez's 14-year-old brother, who was also in the car, suffered a traumatic brain injury as well but was not killed. He has undergone at least two surgeries since the crash.
A 14-year-old girl in the car suffered multiple rib fractures and pulmonary bruising. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition. Another 14-year-old girl in the car suffered a broken collarbone and a 17-year-old boy suffered soft tissue injuries, according to charging documents.
Xu was taken to Harborview Medical Center after the accident and later was booked into King County Jail.
The four women in Xu’s car suffered only minor injuries. Empty alcohol containers were found in the car but prosecutors believe they were from a party Xu and his friends were at the night before, and are not connected to the crash.
Xu is also charged with three counts of vehicular assault and two counts of reckless endangerment.
i hope they will follow up on this story and let us all know if this kid actually ends up in court or is gone by then ....
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@Trans Cend haha, there's no bail in china, just pay the guy at the station and he just lets u go .... and he can just say the paperwork is missing ....
this is very horrible news. heartfelt condolence to the family. however, under current laws in most states, killing while driving, even DUI/DWI got light sentences. just this week, a drunk driver at Thompson Falls MT pleaded 4 counts of vehicular manslaughter getting 10 yrs. the crash he caused killed 2, injured 2 more. if this seattle case involved no DUI and that 1 was killed, i doubt it would go more than 10 yrs. like gun violence, US is not serious with vehicular violence.
@Ted Jenzen it's all relative, you need to look at foreign news, you'll see in asia, this kind of stuff gets even fewer years and the fines are a joke compared to that of the US, that's why he just went ahead and drove because he thought it's no big deal ... but i'm sure he'll be gone by then, if he can come up with 2 million in one check, he can find his way to Canada or Mexico ....
Exactly. Â No money can purchase a life back, money means nothing when you're not in this world. Â Put him in, let him do his time.
Either the capital punishment or life imprisonment, without a doubt.
There's no excuse for him to be even live in this situation when he's already at adult age and don't have mental problems.
Bail him for $2M? That's BS. It's not even enough to settle the victims' medical bills.Â
Suck it up, your life is done.
R.I.P
@settler it'll be difficult to do anything to him since he has no money himself, so that family won't get money from him. hopefully he won't be able to just sneak away to Canada or Mexico ....
Be sure not to let him fled back to China, preferably directly to sentence him to life imprisonment, if he returned to China will be a scourge, please.
As a Chinese I would say most Chinese families are really poor so Xu's case is not common. why your law  enable him to go only because he paid fees? all man are created equal! rich, poor,doesn't matter, he should be punished ! can $20 million buy Brenda Gomez's life back ??! RIPÂ
Several hours ago, this news has been posted on one of the most popular web site www.sohu.com. Now hundreds of millons people have aquired this massage. What a disgraceful news! I fill sick of it.
A Spoiled Boy!
Disgusting behaviour of the Rich! They should be punished. Justice should be reserved.
Thye
taxes are going down
There is absolutely nothing to discuss about if most of you guys don't know the culture and the way of act in China.
There is a one-child policy in China. There is a tradition that "passing on the generations" in China. There is a strong family bond in China... Imagine, a wealthy businessman had 10 million dollars in his bank, he only have one child, the child is the root of his family; he views this child as his future hopes and would die without him. His child killed someone in a traffic accident out of negligence. Why would the father not pay this $2 million dollar check to bail him out? Money is nothing but paper to these people.
You guys are saying that he himself should be responsible for his bail, otherwise he would need to be jailed. This is like telling a cat to chew a bone all day long. It's not that cats can't, but rather its not how cats were raised and how the cats' nature is. Similarly, most of the middle-classed white-Americans don't necessarily know how the rich oriental families think.
Also, I think the family being able to pay the $2 million is already being very generous.Â
Think about how many lives this $2 million can save.
@irondragon This is United States of America, and if I can follow the laws that's set by the Country then why couldn't he? Culture is not the reason of 'being stupid'.
@irondragon
All man are created equal.
The boy is  the spiritual ballast of his parents. Isn't Brenda Gomez the pearl in the eyes of her family?
So the victim's life was worth $2,000,000, to the judge.
This is very bad news, yep hes running. Â
Kiss that bail money goodbye he will be out of the country with a new passport in no time flat.
@godawgs 2 mil nothing for these guys, parents probably gov officials that take in corruption money like they are printing them out ....
I wondered where this punk got the money for a Mercedes, now we know. Â Let's see if he can get out of the country without a passport. Â I'm sure mommy will buy him a fake.
Is it me or is KOMO's comment area as slow as molasses lately?
I was about to say, "If that were my kid, I'd leave his butt in jail," but then I realized that would never be my kid. My kid isn't reckless and irresponsible.
@Tattooed_Angel2 it's a culture thing. the kid is a FOB so he thinks the US is the same in China where money is the law. you can do whatever you want as long as you can pay $ to settle things. it's a sad and unfortunate thing, but it's where cultural differences really explain social behaviors ....Â
@Tattooed_Angel2Â And it is probably their only child since you can only have one in China. But then again they are rich and rules are not something they have to follow in China.
Obviously this family has access to the resources and all evidence is stacked unfavorably against this kid. Itâs pretty much guaranteed he will spend some time behind bars, I would not be surprise if they are planning an escape. Itâs not that hard for them to jump the border into Canada and fly home.
 Anyone who has spent time in China will agree with me when I say that laws and rules are optional for the rich in China.
They need to keep a real close eye on him. If his enabling family is able to to post a 2 million dollar bail, they can easily afford a fake passport and shuttle him out of the country.
Another rich kid spoiled and enabled by know-nothing parents.
You got that right.
He may be out of jail but his conscious is going to kill him. And I wouldn't be surprised if he dies in a car accident in China, because he's going to leave the country. His parents didn't post a 2 million dollar bail so he can hang out in the U.S.Â
@Hehateme Conscience... that might be questionable in this case.
People from an Asian decent often have very deep pockets and that appears to have happened in this case. Would seem from the story he knew nothing about driving in the US, but that's not excuse......should not have been driving at all. RIP!
@mustang sally Racist much? The two richest people in the world are a Mexican and a white American.Â
@Strange100p, It isn't racism to point out commonly held societal values that exist in the real world. I swear, folks that get foaming at the mouth anytime there is a mention of cultural dynamics are really missing the point and make me wonder just how much they will ever learn about people.
@Citizen#3457899654Â "People from an Asian decent often have very deep pockets" is not describing a "commonly held societal value". It is a gross generalization, hence, racism.
I pointed out some commonly-held cultural values above without resorting to racism.
@strangel00p @mustang sally Not Racist. The Seattle area attracts many wealthy Chinese students, especially the UW.  (Count the number of Maseratis, Audi R8s, and tricked out BMWs you see parked in the U dist.)Â
@KramSavrok@strangel00p@mustang sallyIndian as in India... are the wealthiest ethnic group living in the united states and the highest educated. I thought Jews or Chinesse would be, but Indians got the title. "Thank You Come Again.
@strangel00p I'm not sure how you get racist out of that. He simply stated that many Asian people are weatthy.
@Surveyor1 @strangel00p Hardly. The wealthiest countries are NOT generally Asian (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457022/html/nn5page1.stm). Even in the US, wealth is concentrated among those with European ancestry. Separate from, but sometimes related to race and ethnicity is culture. For instance, in LA, people (regardless of race and ethnicity) often show their wealth through cars. Less so here, but more so in certain pockets like Bellevue and Mercer Isl. (by my own observation).
As for this case, yes, an exchange student from China is likely to come from wealthy parents because they are the ones with the money and connections to make a foreign matriculation happen.
And if you want a comparison, check out all the not-so-rich people of Asian descent in the Rainier Valley.
Sounds like someone's a little too entitled. And his parents are just making it worse.
Understatement. He's here for 8 weeks at a CC and buys a car? Not lease or rent but buy a car for his 8 weeks. No drivers license and thinks it would be fun to drive. He will officially disappear in about 4 weeks. It's takes that long to make a fake passport and visas so he can return to China.
Wonder if this guy is still in town? If they can afford to drop two mill on his bond they have enough resources to get out of the country.Â
Mike
@MikeCoomer Agree, he will find a way to escape this country. Fake IDs are not that difficult to get and, if you have the bucks, well.............
So he goes to Canada ,then to China. The state gets $2M and the injured family is left with nothing. if he flees the family should get that money .Too many times he state gets theirs but the victim of the crime get nothing.
Jail his Chinese ass,don't let him go !
We have a Chinese exchange student living with us. She has NO concept of how to drive. She has attended two driving schools, taken the driving test twice and failed within 5min of the start of the test for unsafe actions. I see this kind of driving every day if I go to the Outlet mall in Marysville. The Canadian government will give a drivers license to anyone with a pulse.
All part of the "Canadian Mosaic"
@Citizen#3457899654Â Again with the racism. Because, you know, no Anglo Canadians ever broke a law, it's just those other color folks and the Ukrainians.
@PuzzleFighter yeah, it's the asian culture. rules are just "guidelines". they really practice the "it's not breaking the rules if you don't get caught" mentality. and it's the way you have to be when you are driving over there.
facts are alot of Asian Immigrants ARE horrible drivers, it has nothing to do with racism. btw, I am Asian myself, and I am well aware of the problem, and often tells "my people" to drive better so we can get away from that bad reputation, you are not helping anyone by being "color blind". No one here says Asian aren't allowed to have a drivers license, we are just trying to figure out what the root cause is, and fix it.
This kid is already across the border in Vancouver B.C. waiting for the Chinese Consulate to open Monday, and will be on the next flight out of Vancouver Int'l Airport to China with a temporary Passport. Chinese have a term for these kids... "Black Sheep"...
The canadians won't let him in without a passport. Unless he crosses the green border.
@Marcin PuczyÅowski Normally, this would be true. I go through our border twice a month and back. Getting into Canada is the easy part; Getting back into U.S. is another issue all together. Pay someone off for a person's WA EDL, person reports it lost a few hours after he crosses into Canada after supplying false information, and he's on the next First-Class seat non-stop on Air China after a quick visit to the Chinese Consulate on Granville St. to get proper papers.
@Marcin PuczyÅowski With this guy's resources, it wouldn't be hard to get out of the country.  If he has access to millions in cash to a pay a bail in full, you think it's hard to come up with fake papers or some other means to get out of the country?  A privately charted jet would get him out of Dodge, for example... Â
Chinese, and much of Asian culture, is a one of greasing palms with bribes. Â I doubt he wants to spend 5+ years in the can, esp. he can't speak English very well. Â (He is a community college student, after all, and the reason he's attending a non-four year school is to learn English I imagine, at least in part.)
I say this person is an 80%% goner before trial. Â The question is whether or not this person is being monitored?