Grim Revelation: Minivan Death a Suicide, Not Accident

2006_06_vandeath.jpgThe 300 foot fall a Staten Island family's minivan took off a Bear Mountain scenic point now looks like it was suicide,
according to various reports. The accident claimed the life of Hejin Han and injured her two young daughters. And the woman's husband, Victor Han, will be arraigned on charges of "promoting a suicide attempt, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child." Officials noticed that the van managed to maneuver through the boulders on the edge of the cliff, and Han admitted that his wife was suicidal after 15 hours of questioning. The Daily News reports that Han told the police "his wife warned him she would harm herself and their girls if given the opportunity." Han apparently got out of the car with the motor still running, and Han's wife put the car into gear and drove off the cliff. And the Post had quotes from Hejin Han's nephew, who said his family was "trying to comfort the children and keep them occupied by showing them Bible videos" and that the family is "upset at Victor."

Han is an engineer on Staten Island; neighbors say Hejin Han left her job as an architect to raise the children. Police are trying to point out the silver lining in the whole incident: The Hans' 3 and 5 year old daughters were saved by wearing seat belts. Their mother was not wearing one.

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Finally, Gothamist shows somes crimes that aren't from black people! Crazy ass koreans always committing suicide. Aren't most of them christians? don't they know they will go to hell? most of the korean deaths so far have been suicides caused by passion. ie. lover leaving them.

Look who's the racist now...

It's a death trap
It's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young...

... because obviously your father doesn't give a damn. Happy Father's Day IN JAIL, a-hole.

maybe if all those korean husbands stopped beating their wives we've have less suicides!!!

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Asian driving stories always turn out badly.

trollers suck. this is a sad story.

Distract the children with "Bible videos", so they don't notice their mother killed herself and tried to kill them?

God forbid we should talk to our kids. Just sit them in front of the TV and pretend we didn't have them.

Yes, Interlard - I think explaining to an injured 3 and 5-year old that their mother would rather be dead than alive within a day or two of her suicide is an excellent solution.

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Interland, at 3 and 5, what would you tell them?

The 5 year old would likely understand that their mother died, but the 3 year old? Not likely. To compound things, how do they explain why the Police took their father away? Tell them "Daddy Helped Kill Mommy"??

This is not a simple case. Knowing that she was Suicidal is very different from actually helping his wife commit suicide. Was she in treatment? Did she have a History of Depression?

IMO, if anything he gets nailed for negligence.

The toughest thing to explain:

Hey, Dad, why didn't you take us out of the car?

The mother was obviously not in her right mind. Doesn't excuse it, but facts are facts. And, IMHO, it puts even more focus on the father, who being the only sane parent, is now charged with making responsible decision for both his wife and children.

And what does he do? Keeps the engine running.

The blame for this should rest with him. Like Rusty Yates who continued to repeatedly impregnate his wife even though he had many warnings that the woman was not mentally capable of motherhood, Victor Han is a disgrace to fathers everywhere. There's more to being a dad than bringing home a paycheck and teaching the kids to play catch, fool.

Sadly, like Rusty Yates, the focus will fall on his spouse and he will get off with a sympathetic warning. He'll remarry and sue for custody of the two kids he let go over the edge of the cliff... and win.

ha. that is so true about Koreans. Everytime they are in the news it's always a suicide.

Tim N., From what little I've read, we don't know if that was the case.

It could simply be that he didn't think her depression was as serious as it was. Also from above:

Han admitted that his wife was suicidal after 15 hours of questioning.
He was arraigned without a Lawyer and likely didn't have one when being questioned. If all they have is "Did she ever say she wanted to kill herself?!?" then they have nothing.

In any case, right or wrong, he'll be demonized for not stopping her. People tend to do that to the immediate family when someone commits suicide.

A lot of people talk about being suicidal, but not everyone means it, and certainly not everyone believes them.

On the other hand, he was having an affair, and (this is assuming he's a sociopath), perhaps he was actually hoping she'd do something to help him get rid of her and the family so he'd be free again, and not actually guilty of murder.

I mean, leaving your suicidal wife in the car with the motor running at the edge of a cliff?

newyorkette, That's the really hard part: Telling when it's a real threat or not.

This whole case just gets worse and worse. A Suffering Wife, an apparent affair, Injured children, etc.

The Daily News and the Fish Rag known NY Post must be soooo happy! They could milk this for at least a week. And if he DOES kill himself (He's on a Suicide Watch until he can be evaluated) The could put "JUSTICE!" on the front page...

Bah.

yeah dammit! All those damn asains are f-in up da usa society!!! (not to mention all the ghetto crimes commited by the mick's and the goombas!!!)

If only we could be rid of all the whites and asians, the whole world would be a better place!!

Imagine- there would be no white people to kill- and no one rich enough to rob. . . since "the man" would be gone- all crime/murder would stop 'cause only "warm-blooded" "Sun-People" ie. brothas n sistas would be left. . .Ferrakhan could be president with Marion Barry as VP and Don king as treasurer. . .What a wondeful world!!

It must be all the "positive" messages and role modeling in today's (c)RAp lyrics. I'm glad I dropped outta high school and decided to get famous as rap star (like: .50 cent) (I ain't tall enough to play ball--hahah)

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