http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/04/10/s3c_wpbfatal_0410.html
Souped-up car blamed in fatal crash
Sunday, April 10, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH — Raymond Yeo's license plate said it all: 563-HP. 563 horsepower.
He had a love of giant engines that may have sped him to his death Saturday.Police say the Lake Worth man gunned his turbocharged Toyota Supra as he left a specialty garage. Yeo lost control of the car just a block away and crashed head-on into a Chevrolet Suburban carrying six people.
Yeo, 56, died at the scene. The Suburban occupants — three adults and three children — suffered mostly bumps and bruises. One adult with a broken arm required surgery, police said.
The 11 a.m. accident, just south of Belvedere Road on South Dixie Highway, blocked the road as police investigated.
Hours later, they took Yeo's body from his car, removed his valuables and loaded the body into a van.
Karl Seifel, a traffic homicide investigator, said he believes Yeo's Supra was at fault in the collision. "He was definitely pushing the gas," Seifel said.
Witnesses said they saw the Supra begin to fishtail before it swerved into the oncoming Suburban.
Jaime Boss, 24, an employee of a tire store nearby, said the Supra sped up too quickly after leaving the garage.
"It's a matter of having respect for the power of the motor, because the rear-end will just break loose," Boss said.
Yeo had just left Total Performance & Service, a garage where cars are transformed into racers. Owner Mary McCollum said Yeo had come in the morning to check out a computer system.
She described him as polite, proper gentleman. He was on his way home to do painting his wife had asked him to do, she said.
McCollum heard the blowoff valve blast as Yeo sped away.
"I tell the 18-year-olds: Keep it off the streets. Take it to the track," McCollum said. "Maybe I should tell the older guys too."
A Yeo family member was too upset to comment.
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