Korean woman, 32, killed in San Francisco scooter crash while pursuing her American dream

The death of a Korean woman in her 30s who had moved to the United States to pursue her dreams has come to light.

A 32-year-old Korean woman surnamed Kim died Aug. 7 after a truck struck her while she was riding an electric scooter on Market Street in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets. The incident occurred in the morning (local time).

Kim's scooter wheel became caught in a streetcar rail, causing her to fall, and she was then struck by a following truck. Although she was wearing a helmet, she suffered serious head injuries and was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

Kim had been planning to visit her family in South Korea on Saturday — just one month after the accident. A red star marked that date on a calendar hanging on her San Francisco apartment refrigerator.

Her mother, surnamed Jo, told the Chronicle that she misses everything about her daughter. "I want to hold her, but I can't," she said. "I came home, and I still feel like she's going to walk into the room calling out 'Mom.'"

Kim grew up in a small town in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, and was a promising talent who graduated from Seoul National University. About a year and a half ago, she moved to the United States alone to build her career and had been working as a human resources manager at a solar energy company.

"She had spent almost half her life away from home, so I wasn't sad to see her go to America," her mother said. "That was just who she was."

After entering Seoul National University, Kim spent two years on a working holiday in the United Kingdom — always reaching for something more. She ultimately died in the country where she had hoped to build a career and start a family. "She went to America chasing her dreams and came back to Korea as a cold body," Jo said. "I can't understand why she had to die there."

Attorneys representing the family are investigating the circumstances of the accident and exploring the possibility of a wrongful death lawsuit. Market Street, where the crash occurred, has long drawn criticism for requiring cyclists and scooter riders to share lanes with taxis, commercial vehicles and buses.

Some witnesses told ABC7 and the San Francisco Standard that they saw Kim's scooter wheel catch in a streetcar rail before the crash. Online, users have also pointed to San Francisco's streetcar tracks as a hazard that causes falls among cyclists and scooter riders.

Rich Schonberg, an attorney for the family, said the very concept of scooter and bicycle riders mixing daily with multi-ton vehicles in an 11-foot-wide lane — about 3.4 meters — was fundamentally flawed.

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's legal office said in a statement that the city would review all lawsuits filed against it, but added that the city "cannot be held responsible for every personal accident that occurs on the road."