Seal Beach : 1 Killed, 2 Hurt as Car Veers, Flips and Crashes

A woman was killed and two family members, including her 11-year-old grandson, were severely injured when their car veered out of control on the San Diego Freeway, became airborne, flipped over and crashed into a tree.

The accident shut down a section of the freeway for 2 hours. Special heavy rescue equipment and nearly two dozen firefighters were needed to free the survivors.

“Investigators said they all would have been fatally injured if they all hadn’t been wearing seat belts,” California Highway Patrol Officer Leslie Lazo said.

She said the accident occurred about 11:15 a.m. as the driver, Huyn Sook Cho, 30, of Los Angeles, was southbound on the San Diego Freeway, approaching the transition to the eastbound Garden Grove Freeway.

Cho, driving a 1988 Hyundai at about 70 m.p.h., tried to change lanes to the left but saw a vehicle approaching, so she swerved back to her right. The sharp movement made the vehicle fishtail, Cho lost control and her car veered to the right, Lazo said.

The car struck a curb and became airborne for about 80 feet, flipping on its side, she said. The top of the car hit a tree down an embankment and came to rest on its right side.

The passenger in the right front seat was killed, Lazo said. A coroner’s official identified the woman as Yon-Ok Cho, 65, of Los Angeles.

The driver and her 11-year-old son, David Hwang, who was sitting in the left rear seat, were rushed to UCI Medical Center after they were cut out of the wreckage.

The boy is in critical condition, the mother in guarded condition.