A Korean-American international student in Seattle died in an accident while riding an e-scooter.
According to the victim’s acquaintance, 24-year-old Korean-American Won Jae Ro died in an e-scooter accident near Seattle University. Ro was riding an e-scooter with his friends when the accident occurred, severely injuring his head. He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery but succumbed to his injuries.
Ro’s family is claiming that a mechanical defect in the scooter caused his death. The family hired a lawyer and plans to file a lawsuit against Lime, the e-scooter rental operator, and the City of Seattle.
“There definitely was a handling problem, and this needs to be thoroughly investigated to find the cause of the accident,” Hoyeon Jung, the victim’s friend, said.
A fundraiser is currently underway on GoFundMe to help Ro’s family to bring him home and pay his medical expenses. As of October 23, about $60,000 of the $100,000 goal had been raised.
“Beyond the personal tragedy, this should be a wake-up call to rethink the issue of e-scooter safety,” Jung said, noting that the defective scooter involved in the accident may still be in use.
Regarding the incident, Lime expressed its condolences and said that it’s currently working with local police to determine if the incident occurred on one of its vehicles, and if so it will do a comprehensive investigation to determine what happened. According to Lime, from 2021 to 2024, only 0.01% of rides on Lime globally were accidental.
In September, an accident involving an e-scooter also occurred in Los Angeles Koreatown. A Korean-American in his 60s, Donny Kim was killed in a collision with an e-scooter that was speeding down the sidewalk. The suspect was arrested after a month.
BY YOONJAE JUNG, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
