809KiNg
09-18-2009, 09:20 PM
After deadly test drive crash, another man claims a dealer encouraged him to go fast during test drive
(WHAS11) - The Jefferson County Coroner's Office has identified the two people who died, after a car on a test drive slammed into their car Sunday on Fern Valley Road.
Toya Buckner-Dium, 40, and her stepfather, Sherman King Sr. were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Watch this story
The crash is now raising questions about the test driving of vehicles, especially cars built for speed.
Police are making a digital map of both cars in the crash to estimate how fast the Dodge Challenger was going when it crashed into the Mercury Sable.
Police say the driver, Bryan Lee, told them he thought he was going between 55 and 60 miles per hour.
Bryan Lee
The car salesman told officers he estimated it was up to 70 miles per hour.
However, Sgt. Todd Shaw says the Dodge's crash data recorder shows it was going 101 miles per hour just one second before impact.
In court Monday morning, Bryan Lee, 30, was formally charged with two counts of manslaughter in the first degree.
Lee's brother and a sales representative from Commonwealth Dodge were also in the car at the time of the crash. Lee's father says the whole story has not been heard yet. He says there are questions of whether the salesman encouraged lee to drive that fast.
Additionally, after seeing WHAS11 coverage of the crash, a man we are identifying as “Gary” called the WHAS11 newsroom.
Gary says when he test drove a similar car from Commonwealth Dodge earlier this year; a salesman encouraged him to see how fast the car could go.
Though Gary wished to stay anonymous on camera, he says he will testify to his claims in court.
WHAS11’s repeated calls to the Commonwealth Dodge General Manager were not returned.
The Greater Louisville Automobile Dealers Association says it does not have any written procedures for test driving, however, each store should have their own policy, including a specific predetermined dealer approved route for all test drives.
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0078.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0069.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0066.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0068.jpg
(WHAS11) - The Jefferson County Coroner's Office has identified the two people who died, after a car on a test drive slammed into their car Sunday on Fern Valley Road.
Toya Buckner-Dium, 40, and her stepfather, Sherman King Sr. were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Watch this story
The crash is now raising questions about the test driving of vehicles, especially cars built for speed.
Police are making a digital map of both cars in the crash to estimate how fast the Dodge Challenger was going when it crashed into the Mercury Sable.
Police say the driver, Bryan Lee, told them he thought he was going between 55 and 60 miles per hour.
Bryan Lee
The car salesman told officers he estimated it was up to 70 miles per hour.
However, Sgt. Todd Shaw says the Dodge's crash data recorder shows it was going 101 miles per hour just one second before impact.
In court Monday morning, Bryan Lee, 30, was formally charged with two counts of manslaughter in the first degree.
Lee's brother and a sales representative from Commonwealth Dodge were also in the car at the time of the crash. Lee's father says the whole story has not been heard yet. He says there are questions of whether the salesman encouraged lee to drive that fast.
Additionally, after seeing WHAS11 coverage of the crash, a man we are identifying as “Gary” called the WHAS11 newsroom.
Gary says when he test drove a similar car from Commonwealth Dodge earlier this year; a salesman encouraged him to see how fast the car could go.
Though Gary wished to stay anonymous on camera, he says he will testify to his claims in court.
WHAS11’s repeated calls to the Commonwealth Dodge General Manager were not returned.
The Greater Louisville Automobile Dealers Association says it does not have any written procedures for test driving, however, each store should have their own policy, including a specific predetermined dealer approved route for all test drives.
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0078.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0069.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0066.jpg
http://www.whas11.com/images/slideshow/090824_testdrive/images/WHAS0068.jpg