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Mar. 21—A preliminary hearing was held this week on vehicular homicide and related charges against a Penn State Berks student in the Feb. 17 crash that killed a fellow student and seriously injured two other passengers in front of the campus.
Jen-Chieh Sung, 20, a resident of Taiwan living temporarily in a residence hall on the Spring Township campus, remained free on $200,000 bail after being held for court after the hearing Wednesday before District Judge Ann L. Young in Wernersville.
Along with homicide by vehicle, Sung is in Berks County Court facing two felony counts of aggravated assault by vehicle and a single felony count of causing an accident involving death or personal injury while not licensed. He also faces charges of DUI, reckless driving and exceeding the 25 mph speed limit by 36 mph.
The charges were filed by Spring Township police days after the crash following an investigation that included a download of recording devices in the car and numerous interviews of crash survivors and other friends, all of which are Penn State Berks students.
According to the arrest affidavit:
The crash happened about 1:45 a.m. on Tulpehocken Road near the entrance to the residence halls, just past the entrance to Grings Mill Recreation Area. It's a two-lane road with numerous bends and blind curves, with a posted speed limit of 25 mph. It was snowing, and roads were slick.
Officers arrived to find a BMW sedan up against a large oak tree.
Western Berks Ambulance medics administered first aid to the passengers. One of them, Xuanyi Zhu, 20, of Portland, Ore., a rear-seat passenger, suffered severe head and facial injuries and was declared dead.
Officers spoke with the surviving occupants as they were being treated. Sung said he was driving. Officers noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath. Sung admitted to consuming a beer prior to driving.
He and the other surviving occupants said they were returning to campus from a fellow student's off-campus residence about 2 miles from the campus. There, the survivors of the crash said, Sung and his friend made a hot pot, which they described as a Chinese meal that is prepared with wine.
Sung said an entire bottle of alcohol was added to the food. He said he had borrowed the car from a friend.
The three surviving occupants were transported to Reading Hospital. Sung was found to have a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.05%, which is above the legal limit of 0.02% for a driver under the age of 21.
Liling Quan, who had been the front-seat passenger, suffered a low-back fracture that would require surgery. She was wearing a seat belt.
Rear-seat passenger Jinhong Pang suffered a hip dislocation and a hand injury that would require surgery. Neither rear-seat passenger wore a seat belt.
Pang and Quan said the foursome decided to leave the off-campus aprtment and head back to campus at about 1:30 a.m. when they noticed road conditions were deteriorating.
Quan said the last thing she remembered was arriving at a stop sign at Berkshire Boulevard and Tulpehocken Road.
Two of their friends followed in separate cars. One was also returning to his on-campus residence; the other was the man who hosted the gathering and wanted to ensure his guest made it all of the way home.
Both told investigators they had to drive slowly due to the road conditions.
They came upon the crash minutes after it happened. One of the friends told police he could hear the BMW roadside assist speaking, and he requested they send help.
Police impounded the BMW for forensic examination. A state police crash reconstruction specialist downloaded the data from the airbag control module. It showed the BMW was traveling at 61 mph just before the crash.
The accelerator was utilized up to the time of impact and the brakes were never activated, investigators determined.
The data showed the driver sporadically turning the wheel in both directions just prior to the crash, which would indicate losing and trying to regain control of the car.
The vehicle had no registration plate.
Zhu, 20, a resident of Portland, Ore., known as "Will," died of head injuries, a forensic pathologist determined.
Sung doesn't have a driver's license in Pennsylvania, nor could one be located for him in any state in the U.S.
A Penn State Berks spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that Sung remains a student.
