Temporary Bear Mountain reroute in NY

[Askus3]

Police investigate freak Bear Mountain crash


Bear Mountain - Investigators continue to piece together what happened in a freak accident that claimed the life of a Staten Island mother when her minivan plummeted 300 feet off the side of a cliff near Bear Mountain State Park Wednesday night.

Information on why the Honda Odyssey parked on Perkins Memorial Drive tumbled over the side remained unavailable this morning. Police have said that Victor Han parked the van and got out to take pictures of the breathtaking view near the end of the drive, when the van rolled forward. Inside were his wife, Hejin, and their two girls, ages 3 and 5. The girls survived the crash but Hejin Han was pronounced dead at the scene.

More than 40 firefighters were on the scene Wednesday, including a dozen firefighters from Fort Montgomery, which often comes to help the Stony Point Fire Department.

A tow truck is on the scene at this hour, although it's unclear when the wreckage will be retrieved. Authorities said it could take as little as 30 minutes or as long as four hours. Below the cliff, park rangers were diverting hikers along the Appalachian Trail as a precaution in case the wreckage came loose and fell further. The road will remain closed until investigators finish reconstructing the accident.

The site where the accident took place overlooks the huge field between the Bear Mountain Inn and the stone Palisades Interstate Park Commission administration building and Hessian Lake. It's a small area at the top of the two-lane drive where people pull off the road and set up picnic chairs and take in the view. Large stones are arranged to prevent cars from going over the side and a ranger expressed surprise that a vehicle was able to get past.

[Buckles]

New York Times, Saturday, June 17, 2006

It looked like an ordinary family outing. A minivan stopped at a scenic overlook, a strip of blacktopped pavement that is little more than a wide spot on a one-lane road along the edge of a cliff. In the distance is the Hudson River. A hundred feet below is a forest as thick as when the Harriman family owned it a century ago.

The police say three things happened next. A man stepped out of the minivan, maybe to take a picture. His wife, inside with their two young daughters, put the transmission in gear. And the minivan drove off the cliff.

The woman, Hejin Han, 35, was killed on Wednesday as the minivan bounced down the rocky hillside in Bear Mountain State Park,......and slammed into a tree. The two daughters, strapped into their car seats in the back, were not seriously injured.

Yesterday, the man who climbed out of the van before its plunge...Victor K. Han, 35, an architect from Staten Island...was charged with promoting a suicide attempt. The police maintain that Mr. Han know that his wife was suicidal and "afforded her an opportunity" to kill herself.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

But the police also said that there was another twist in the already complicated case. Court papers referred to a female co-worker of Mr. Han's and said the two had a romantic relationship.

That disclosure was at odds with the way the Hans' neighbors on Staten Island described them — a stable family, happy and religious, with a father who had done design work for neighbors who wanted decks built on their houses.

"They'd wait outside for him to come at night, and they would all embrace," Pamela Cropley, who lives near the Hans on Elvin Street in Castleton Corners, said about Mrs. Han and the girls, ages 5 and 3.

Ms. Cropley, who said the couple moved into their half of a two-family house five or six years ago, said she never saw anything to suggest that Mrs. Han was troubled — let alone so troubled that she would take her own life. "She was smiling every time I saw her," Ms. Cropley said. "She would see you, and her face would light up."

... not the only charge that Mr. Han faced ... was also charged with two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, one count for each daughter, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.... {all are} felonies.

The park police said that two hikers who had heard the minivan clatter down the hillside and smash into a tree helped officers find the vehicle. The park police also said that when they got there, Mr. Han had gone down the hillside despite the steep drop, and was standing by the van. By early yesterday, the park police were accusing Mr. Han of abetting his wife's suicide, and some legal experts were saying that it would be hard to make the charge stick.:eek: I certainly hope the police have some serious evidence this man actually knew his wife was planning to suicide - otherwise charges need to be brought against the officials involved in putting this man and his daughters through such an ordeal as they grieve the lost of the wife / mother.

[Moon Monster]

The police said he "afforded her an opportunity to carry out her intentions."

I say merely leaving her at the house every day to go to work is doing this. Otherwise, this is a charge for failing to read her mind. Seems like a ludacris charge on its face. The police must know more from interviews with the guy than what's in the NY Times piece.