Germantown man killed in Alaska car crash

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006

A Germantown man on vacation with his family in Alaska was pronounced dead last week at the scene of a two-vehicle accident, according to state police and news reports from Fairbanks.

Yong Ki Kim, 74, was stopped in a rental car with his wife and son on the side of a road in Fairbanks about 5:23 p.m. Sept. 9 when a Ford F-150 truck slammed into his Pontiac Grand Am, according to Alaska state police and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Kim’s wife and son were treated and released from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, state police said.

The family was vacationing in Alaska.

The operator of the truck, Byron Geisinger, 46, of Fairbanks, left the scene, state police said. He was arrested and charged with manslaughter and failing to render aid, according to state police.

Geisinger said in court Sept. 11 that he was going to get help and not running away, according to the Fairbanks newspaper.

Geisinger called police troopers Sunday morning to turn himself in, the newspaper reported.

He told a magistrate in Superior Court on Monday that he left to get help and passed out in the woods, the report said.

The newspaper also reported that the accident is still under investigation and that more charges could be filed against Geisinger, whose bail was set at $200,000.