Bath Beach Honor Student Mowed Down By Drunk Driver

A promising young man’s life came to a horrific end Friday night when an allegedly intoxicated driver slammed his van into 17-year-old honor student Terence Tsao, who was standing on a Bath Beach traffic island a block away from his home, the Daily News reports.

According to police sources, the driver of the 2000 Dodge minivan, 46-year-old Vitali Korzavin, was arrested at the scene of the accident and charged with vehicular manslaughter, DWI and speeding.

Tsao, a Stuyvesant High School senior, who worked as a docent at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, was returning home from his school’s Board Game Society when the crash occurred at approximately 9:40 p.m. on Cropsey Avenue at Bay 37th Street.

The hard-working young man, who aspired to study environmental science and, according to the Daily News “had won scholarships to a handful of colleges, including a four-year merit scholarship to Allegheny College in Pennsylvania,” was rushed to Lutheran Medical Center, where he died. Tsao leaves behind his parents and a younger sister.

In a touching gesture by Tsao’s classmates, many have taken to reposting a snapshot of his graduation photo from a yearbook page along with their sentiments on various Tumblr blogs. Said one fellow classmate:

Even though I barely knew him, he was the kindest person I met when I first got into Stuy. HE would just wave hiii all the time all excitedly. During the time when the college’s visited the school, I remember being in the same room with Terrance and he would ask about their Environmental programs. I said hi to him again then thinking dam he’s got this. He was destined for greatness; I just know it. Why did the lightening have to strike someone so young and set fire to the forest… The prospect for the future gone in a flash.

“He especially loved the touch pools [at the Aquarium] with the starfish,” his father told the Daily News. “Children loved the touch pools, and he loved interacting with the public.”