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Updated 06/02/2010 10:37 PM

Officer Had Twice The Legal Alcohol Limit During Fatal Crash

By: NY1 News

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Toxicology results have revealed that an off-duty police officer had a blood alcohol level double the legal limit when he crashed his car into a guardrail – killing himself and a fellow officer and wounding four women.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the driver, Hoyoung Kim, 32, had a blood alcohol level of .16, which is double the state’s legal limit of .08.

Officer Edwin Paulino, 25, had a blood alcohol level of .21.

Both are believed to have been at a party before the crash on the Bronx River Parkway last month.

The four women were riding with them in the back seat at the time of the crash.

Officer Had Twice The Legal Alcohol Limit During Fatal Crash

The family of Iris Gomez Ramirez and Jasmine Ramirez says they are still fighting for their lives.

One needs her face totally reconstructed and the other is suffering from partial paralysis.

"The police had a duty to protect and serve our people, and they breached that duty. This was a horrible tragedy. The four young women have horrible injuries. They will have injuries that will last them for the rest of their lives, both physical and psychological injuries," said the women's attorney Kenneth Litman.

Litman added that Kim had offered the women a ride home from the party, and that they would have never gotten into the car with Kim if they had known he was drunk.

The Ramirez family says they are planning to file suit against the city and Kim's family.