High-flyer, 32, worked her way out of poverty to start new life in America… only to die in freak scooter accident

The mom of a 32-year-old woman who recently started a new life in America has described her heartbreak after her daughter was killed in a freak accident on San Francisco’s famous Market Street.

On Friday, August 7, Yebin Kim was headed eastbound down Market Street when her scooter’s tire got caught in the streetcar tracks which run across all three miles of Market Street, San Francisco Streetblogs reported. 

Kim was then struck by a delivery truck headed in the same direction. Internal police reports said she suffered a traumatic head injury despite wearing a helmet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Yebin Kim moved to the States from South Korea a year and a half ago to pursue her career.

Kim is originally from Sacheon, a small coastal city in South Korea. She is the oldest daughter of a working class family of five, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

While her parents worked late hours, Kim took care of her younger siblings while ambitiously chasing her own goals.

Kim attended Seoul National University, a prestigious school with cutthroat admissions. 

After graduating, Kim moved to California to work at QCells, a global renewable energy company – first at their Irvine office, and then at their San Francisco location.

‘Yebin went to the States to chase her dreams and came home to Korea as a cold body. I cannot understand why Yebin had to die there,’ Kim’s mother, Yonga Cho, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

‘I miss everything about her. I want to give her a hug, but I can’t. Now that I’m home, I still hear her voice, like she’s going to come into the room saying “Mom.”‘

She was cremated and laid to rest at a cemetery about 50 minutes from her childhood home, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

At a vigil held for Kim by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), advocates demanded a safer Market Street, including physical barriers to protect scooter and bike drivers from trucks, buses and streetcars. 

‘Yebin Kim’s death marks the 17th fatality due to traffic violence on our streets in 2026, and the first scooter rider death,’ a statement from the group read.

The fight to make Market Street safer has been a decades-long battle for thousands of San Francisco residents and dozens of organizations.  

In 2020, private vehicles were banned from Market Street. The result was a 14% increase in transit service and a 40% reduction in injury collisions, according to WalkSF, a non-profit organization that has advocated for pedestrian safety in the area for almost 30 years.

Last August, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie allowed Uber, Lyft and Waymo vehicles back on the street. This decision was met with scrutiny, as it’s a back-pedal on the original promise of a car-free Market Street. 

San Francisco’s District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey was the only lawmaker in attendance at the Market Street Vigil held for Yebin Kim, according to SF Streetblogs. ‘Some time we’ll get Market Street right,’ he said, ‘then we’ll ask why it took so long.’ 

The family’s attorney, Rich Schoenberger of Walkup, Melodia & Schoenberger, said that police provided little information on Kim’s death, despite their requests. 

The attorneys are considering a wrongful death lawsuit, if additional information reveals that the city of San Francisco or the truck driver to be at fault, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

According to SF Streetblogs, it is unclear if there is a criminal investigation being pursued towards the truck driver. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Mayor Lurie and the SFPD for comment.