CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A Georgia man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a DUI crash in Clarksville that cost the lives of two young people.
18-year-old Joshua A. Guillen Lopez and 18-year-old Samia T. Lucas, both from Clarksville, died as a result of the crash that occurred in October 2016 on the 101st Airborne Division Pkwy at the intersection of Trenton Rd.
Ho Young Kang, 59, was charged with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, failure to obey a traffic device, and driving under the influence after the crash. His arrest warrant says he ran a red light and struck the teens’ vehicle. He admitted to drinking three to four beers prior.
Kang, who had been living in the Clarksville area for work, had previously been charged with DUI in 1991.
In September 2017, Kang pleaded guilty to DUI and two counts of vehicular homicide. According to court documents, on Dec. 18, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each count of vehicular homicide as well as 11 months and 29 days for DUI. His sentences will run concurrently, meaning he would serve 10 years only. Tennessee law states that Kang will be eligible for parole after serving three years.
Lopez was a passenger in Lucas’s car when the teenagers were struck and killed. Lopez died in the crash and Lucas was LifeFlighted to Vanderbilt where she died from her injuries later that day.
The pair had gone out to celebrate Lopez’s 18th birthday.
The mothers of Lopez and Lucas provided detailed victim impact statements to the court that described the pain they felt at the loss of their children. According to the statements, Lucas has just started attending Austin Peay State University to study occupational therapy at the time of her death. Lopez had planned on joining the Navy.