In a deadly replay of a birthday celebration that ended in a drunken-driving arrest two years ago, a Denver woman’s birthday ended this time with two killed in a five-vehicle smash-up early Friday on Interstate 70 near Kipling Street.
Heydi Margarita Hau Chi, 26, was identified by Wheat Ridge police as the driver of a black Nissan Sentra that was headed the wrong way on westbound I-70 about 3:30 a.m Friday when it crashed head-on into a Volvo.
The driver of the Volvo, Woon D. Baek, a 65-year-old retired postal worker from Aurora, was killed when he stepped from his car and was struck by a semi cresting the hill.
The truck then plowed into Hau Chi’s car and dragged it about 100 yards, said Wheat Ridge police Lt. Wade Hammond. Hau Chi, who was thrown from her car at some point, died at the scene.
Baek’s wife suffered serious injuries, Hammond said. A couple in their car also suffered injuries, though not life-threatening, he said. The truck driver, a Fort Worth, Texas, man, was not injured.
At the accident scene, another car crashed into a Colorado State Patrol car. The trooper was not in the car, and the driver who hit the patrol car was not injured, Hammond said.
Toxicology reports were not available late Friday, but authorities suspect Hau Chi was driving drunk. They had begun receiving 911 reports at 2:46 a.m. Friday, when her Nissan Sentra was involved in a hit-and-run incident in the 4600 block of Everett Street. A license plate matching her car was left at the scene. Erratic driving was reported in other locations, Hammond said.
It was on the same day — June 11 — in 2008, the day after Hau Chi turned 24, that she had been arrested for drunken driving. She was convicted a month later of a lesser offense, driving while ability impaired.
As part of her sentence in that case, Hau Chi was ordered to take an alcohol-education class.
This year, Hau Chi celebrated her birthday Thursday with her family, of which she was seventh out of nine brothers and sisters, her sister-in-law Wilma Hau said. Hau Chi was young when the family moved her from Yucatan, Mexico.
“We never thought something like this was going to happen,” Hau said. “She always helped take care of her sisters and her mom. She helped everyone — drove them to buy anything they needed and took care of their kids.”
Hau said her sister-in-law was single and had no children. She didn’t work because she took care of her ill mother in the home they shared. She managed her mother’s medications and drove her to her hospital visits.
“We’re all here most of all to support her mom,” Hau said outside the family home Friday afternoon. “She’s not doing so good.”
Baek’s neighbors said they knew him best from his working hard in his immaculate yard.
“He is the sweetest person,” neighbor Denitra Johnson said.
She recalled how recently he was working in his yard and moving to the loud music of one of her children’s friends.
“He was dancing and everything,” Johnson said. “They are just friendly people.”
The collisions shut down the westbound lanes of the highway for six hours Friday morning.
Investigators think Hau Chi got on the highway, heading in the wrong direction, at the Ward Road interchange.
Staff writers Electa Draper, Carlos Illescas and Yesenia Robles contributed to this report.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
