Youn Bum Lee, a Hyundai executive who left for (= ran away to) South Korea after a motorcyclist hit his disabled SUV and was killed back in 2005, was extradited to Orange County last week after being arrested by officials in Seoul: Former Hyundai executive extradited in 2005 hit-run death.
Ryan Dallas Cook was riding his motorcycle when he clipped a stalled, darkened SUV that had rammed into a concrete barrier on the 55 Freeway in Southern California. The impact that hurled him to the pavement, where he was hit by several passing cars and died.
The SUV belonged to Lee, who had allegedly spent a long night drinking. Instead of sticking around, he took off. And twenty-four hours later, he boarded a plane back to South Korea and vanished. Shady. Three years later, he's back and in custody. Time to face the music, fool.
Lee faces charges of felony gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs with injury, and hit-and-run with injury or death. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum of 15 years in state prison.
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