Chinese college student sentenced to prison for fatal crash

SEATTLE — A foreign student who crashed his newly purchased Mercedes-Benz into another car, killing its driver and injuring three people, was sentenced to 17 1/2 months in prison on Friday.

The Seattle Times reported 20-year-old Yichun Xu pleaded guilty in February to vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless endangerment for a Nov. 10, 2012, crash in Des Moines that killed 25-year-old Brenda Gomez-Zapata.

Charging documents say the Chinese national had been in the country for two months and was living with a host family in Olympia and attending Puget Sound Community College at the time.

Prosecutors said he was driving around 70 mph, ran a stop sign and crashed into Gomez-Zapata’s car.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com

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