Chinese Student Kills American Overseas, Posts $2 Million Bail
by Cecilia Miao on Friday, March 8, 2013
From NetEase:
Chinese Study Abroad Student Hits and Kills American, Posts 2 Million USD Bail
SAN FRANCISCO (People.com.cn) – American local media are reporting that the mother of a 19-year-old Chinese international student, whose speeding in Seattle of King County in Washington state caused one death and injured four local residents, has posted the astronomical 2 million USD bail to get his son released. Prosecutors were worried that the foreign student would jump bail but nonetheless allowed the release.
According to a Seattle Times report, in 2012 November, Xu Yichun, a Chinese international student studying at the South Puget Sound Community College in Seattle, was driving his newly purchased Mercedes-Benz C350 with four other students on their way back to the apartment from grocery shopping.
Xu Yichun did not stop at a stop sign and broadsided a car driving towards him, causing severe injuries to the other driver, 25-year-old American female Brenda Gomez-Zapata, who died of her injuries 9 days after being taken to the hospital, with the other three passengers in car being severely injured as well.
The police investigation found that at the time, Xu Yichun was driving his car at over 60 mph, when the residential area’s speed limit was 30 mph. Xu Yichun told police that he was driving only a little faster [than the speed limit] and it was only because his GPS navigation system showed that he had taken the wrong road that he had made a U-turn.
The police then found out that Xu Yichun does not actually hold a Washington driver’s license, nor an international driver’s license. He confessed to police that although he has a driver’s license in China, he has never driven in the United States before.
Xu was arrested and taken into custody by the police. King County prosecutors on 2012 November 14th charged him with 6 offenses, including one count of vehicular manslaughter, three counts of vehicular assaults, and two counts of reckless endangerment. On December 6th, this case will be heard for the first time at the King County Superior Court located at the regional justice center in Kent.
Recently, Xu Yichun’s mother rushed over from China and produced a 2 million USD cashier’s check at the March 1st local time bail hearing. After verification by the county jail, her son was released at 8 o’clock that night, but Xu Yichun’s Chinese passport was still held by the court.
Deputy Chief of Staff for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Ian Goodhew said, “Rarely is a bail of that amount posted.” He said prosecutors asked the court to set the bail at 2 million USD because if the bail was too low, Xu Yichun would very likely jump bail once he posts bail. He said there had been similar cases where Chinese nationals somehow fled to China after paying the bail despite having their passports seized. He said: “We are very much concerned he won’t show up for court.”
China and the United States currently do not have an extradition treaty. Goodhew said that if [Xu Yichun] jumps bail, it’ll be hard to get him back. But at the same time he also acknowledged that because Xu Yichun does not have a violent criminal record nor has he failed to appear in court before, it would be very difficult for the court to refuse bail. This case has a lot of attention from the Seattle media, with the local population actively commenting on news websites.
