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Former GR Symphony intern killed in traffic crash

Posted at 6:04 PM, Nov 30, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-30 22:53:56-05

BERTRAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office says a 24-year-old woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash Friday morning. The Grand Rapids Symphony says she was a recent intern with them.

The location was on U.S.-12 at the end of the off-ramp to southbound US-31 in Bertrand Township.

Police say Anna Lucia Kim, a Korea native, was killed in the crash. The Grand Rapids Symphony says in a written statement that Kim was an intern for the symphony for two-and-a-half months, beginning in September:

Berrien County Sheriff’s Office photo.

“The Grand Rapids Symphony family is mourning the tragic loss…Kim was in the final weeks of completing her Master’s degree in Community & International Development at Andrews University. She also was beginning to look for a full-time job in order to secure a visa to remain in the country after graduation.”

Kim’s last day with the Symphony was November 16th.

A pickup truck driven by Thomas Doyle, 39, of South Bend was heading westbound on US-12 and struck Kim’s vehicle “that had just ramped off of US-31 Bypass southbound,” according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

Police say Kim’s Chrysler Sebring was struck in the door on the driver’s side. Both vehicles then wound up in the median. Berrien County crash investigators “believe that Kim may have pulled out into the path of the pickup truck”, but police are still investigating.

They don’t believe alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash, which happened around 11:39 a.m..

Responding to the crash scene were the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Crash Unit, Pokagon Tribal Police, SMACS ambulance, Bertrand Township Fire and Andrews University Security police.

The Grand Rapids Symphony says Kim worked on the Development staff with the Symphony, “organizing events and activities to raise money and awareness for the orchestra’s educational opportunities in its Gateway to Music programs:

“Kim, who did not have immediate family in the United States, came to the United States on her own at age 15 for schooling. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and voice at Andrews University in Berrien Springs in December 2016.

“She struck me as a very strong young woman who had faced some challenges at a young age, and she succeeded in these things all on her own,” said Nancy Hopkins, Senior Manager of Volunteer Services for the Grand Rapids Symphony”.