I8ABMR

I am so happy that this guy was released. I felt really bad about his case because it seems so suspicious



http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/06/r...toyota-sudden/

Koua Fong Lee, the man who was convicted in 2006 of killing three people when his Toyota Camry struck a vehicle at a stoplight, has been acquitted of any crime. Lee served a total of two-and-a-half years in prison after his defense attorney failed to adequately show that he had been applying the brake on his vehicle the whole time. In the wake of a number of unintended acceleration claims on similar Toyota vehicles and increasing outcry for his release (including a big ABC News feature), Lee's case was reopened. In four days of testimony, his new counsel had a series of drivers who had experience unintended acceleration in their Toyotas take the stand. Eventually, the presiding judge heard enough and released Lee prosecutor dropped the charges against Lee.

Lee served two-and-a-half years of an eight-year sentence for vehicular homicide after his first attorney actually suggested to the jury that Lee could have mistaken the accelerator for the brake pedal. Combined with the defendant's limited English and the fact that few people had heard of unintended acceleration at the time of the first trail, the judge sentenced Lee to the maximum penalty under the law. Now that he's been released, Lee says that he'll focus on getting to know the youngest of his four children.

Stormforge

didn't the nhtsa investigation (link below) show that the unintended acceleration is due to driver error? assuming this is the truth, it would be highly unlikely that mr. lee stepped on the brakes as he had claimed. so the question is: did lee get a reprieve from his 8 year sentence, or did the justice system screw up again by letting a convicted person off early?

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...or-blamed.html

acheparev

I don't understand. They could easily look at the "black box" and see if the break pedal was pressed or if he was pressing the gas. The NHTSA looked at all the cases submitted to them and found that in all but one case, the drivers were hitting the gas pedal.

Then, is it appropriate to put someone in jail for 8 years for accidentally hitting the gas, killing 3 people?

raptor22

That's what i was thinking too. Besides i was reading the comments on autoblog, apparently it's a 1999 Camry, which isn't part of the recall because it uses throttle cable and doesn't have electronic gas pedal/linkage, so how is it that they could use the current Toyota situation as the basis for the appeal is beyond me.

and i'm sure every single driver claimed 110% they were applying the brake but their Toyotas just wouldn't stop

I8ABMR

I am happy he is home with his family. you can confuse the gas pedal for the brake but not enough to hit a car hard enough to kill people( think about it). What do they think ,he usually approaches stopped cars at 85 miles an hour and then slams the brake on. imho he deserves to be home with his family.

raptor22

i kinda have a different take on this though in general. If the driver did confuse the gas pedal for the brake and thought they were stepping on the brake, i would think that the first instinct when the car wasn't stopping was to press the 'brake' harder.

acheparev

Actually you can, as the data collected by the NHTSA showed, most of the deaths related to acceleration issues were due to driver error, drivers hitting the gas pedal thinking it was the break, then panicking and hitting the gas pedal again. Only one incident was not driver error, and it was because of an incorrectly installed floor mat on a Lexus ES300.

I still think it was the driver hitting the gas by accident, but don't know if it's appropriate to send someone to jail for 8 years for what clearly was just an accident.

Stormforge

in the link below, it clearly states that lee exited the freeway ramp and hit the car in front of him at a speed of approx 70-90 mph. now correct my understanding, but are you not supposed to slow down after you exit the freeway, as you will be entering roads or streets with a lower speed limit?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_toyota...Vkb21mb3JtaQ--

so this raises the question: was he negligent in operating a motor vehicle at speeds greater than the posted speed limit? and upon seeing a car in front of him coming closer very quickly, did he panic and tried to stop to avoid a collision, but stepped on the accelerator pedal by accident? so many questions, too few answers.

LexFather

Also if it was a 1999 Camry I'm really lost here. As someone stated, its not part of the recall.

I think I'm going to try to get off some old speeding tickets.

Mister Two

Toyota's UA-related recalls so far include only the floor mat issue and the CTS-sourced sticky gas pedal issue, neither of which has anything to do with electronic gas pedal linkage like you suggested, so the man only has to put the blame on say, a stuck floor mat, and then it's a valid case against Toyota.

Jewcano

iTrader: (4)

This is exactly what happened to me once long ago. When I was still a VERY inexperienced driver, I was being 'cool' and gunning a vehicle in a parking lot to another parking space. The gas and brake were very close to each other. I lifted my foot and thought I moved it far enough. I pressed down and the vehicle accelerated. I was 'stunned' to say and pushed it harder and thankfully hit a pole which stopped the vehicle. Due to my inexperience and 'freezing up', I experienced driver error, unintended acceleration. Granted this was a Honda, not a Toyota.

1QWKGS4

iTrader: (3)

Did you read the whole article and watch all the videos, there was a recall according to this case and 16-17 unintended acceleration incidents reported on 1996 Camrys.

If the Justice system put him away for this don't you think they would have supporting evidence that it wasn't his fault to release him..

Corey140

It's a 95 or 96 Camry v6 xle.

The DA office experts say the car brakes and throttle was working. Defense attorney experts says the throttle was stuck open and he was pressing the brakes at the time of the collision.

They've had recalls on these Camry for the cruise control causing sudden acceleration and I can't remember the other recall reason.

The victim family believed that he didn't have anything to do with it and it was the car.

It's a sad case overall. We may never find out the truth of the matter.