Ip Ends Testimony in Suit Over Killing

Convicted killer Roger Sing Ip concluded his testimony Tuesday in the wrongful-death suit filed against him by the parents of a 15-year-old boy he shot and killed in 1989.

Ip, 35, of Spring Valley repeated his previous criminal trial testimony that the July 10, 1989, shooting of Kurt Yokes, a Mission Bay High School freshman, was accidental.

Ip, a former restaurant co-owner, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last February and is serving a five-year state prison term. The shooting followed a near-collision between the car in which Yokes was a passenger and Ip’s truck in Pacific Beach as Ip left the restaurant, the China Inn.

He told San Diego Superior Court jurors that he carried a gun in his Isuzu Trooper every time he collected the restaurant’s receipts. Ip said other Chinese restaurant owners he knows in other cities also carry guns when they take their receipts home, and he was following their practice. But he acknowledged that, for the first year in business, he did not carry a gun when he carried the money bag home.

Also being sued is his former partner, Andy Kam. Kam’s attorney has argued that Kam should not be liable for damages caused by Ip’s actions.

Ip also said he is willing to compensate the youth’s parents, Robert and Joan Yokes of La Jolla, for their loss out of his own pocket.

Ip was called as the trial’s first witness Monday and testified for a day and half.

Also testifying Tuesday were Yokes’ two brothers. The trial is expected to continue for about a week.