Smithtown woman on way home from church dies in crash

A Smithtown woman on her way home from church was killed Sunday afternoon when her husband passed out at the wheel and lost control of their vehicle, veering into a tree in Hauppauge, Suffolk police said.

Authorities arrived to find Dr. Jong Choi trying to revive his wife, Kum Choi, after the accident on Veterans Memorial Highway west of New Highway, said Det. Sgt. John Twiname. Kum Choi, 70, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jong Choi, 76, was driving east about 12:40 p.m. in a 1998 Lexus with his wife, who had reclined the passenger seat and was asleep, police said.

Witnesses said that Choi's Lexus, in the right lane, slowly moved to the right, left the highway and then rambled into some woods before striking a large tree, Twiname said.

Afterward, Jong Choi could not explain why he had lost consciousness, Twiname said. Authorities do not believe alcohol or drugs played a role. Both occupants were wearing their seat belts.

"It just seems to be a very tragic accident," Twiname said. "He's obviously devastated by the loss of his wife."

The couple had awakened around 5:30 a.m. and went to services at Arumdaun Presbyterian Church in Bethpage, where Kum sang in the choir and Jong played alto saxophone in an ensemble, said Jungsik Suh, a church elder.

Kum Choi "was a wonderful lady and a very good churchgoer," Suh said, adding she and her husband joined the church when it was founded 18 years ago. "She's always offering a helping hand. We feel sorrow. We're losing a really good member of ours."

Her husband, a retired anesthesiologist, was being treated for pain and abrasions to his chest at Stony Brook University Medical Center, Twiname said.

"We don't know that he has any medical issues," Twiname said. "They're going to do a battery of tests overnight to find out."