Casino cook, coworker killed in Bustleton Ave. crash

Liang Pan worked six shifts a week as a cook at a Parx Casino restaurant to support his wife, Ming, and their 9-month-old daughter, Heidi.

Pan, 35, needed to work hard. His paycheck also helped support a large extended family in Philadelphia and other relatives back home in China.

Ming was pregnant again, four months along.

Monday night, Pan, as was his routine, offered a ride home to a coworker at the Sangkee Noodle House, Zhuoru Chan, 58, a kitchen assistant. The men lived near each other in Oxford Circle.

Driving in Pan's Honda Accord, Pan and Chan were about five blocks from their homes when they reached the intersection of Bustleton Avenue and St. Vincent Street about 20 minutes after midnight.

They never made it any farther, broadsided by a GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicle that barreled through a red light.

The force of impact sent Pan's car crashing into opposing traffic, where it was smashed by a Jeep Cherokee.

Pan and Chan died at the scene - Pan's mangled Honda Accord towed from the scene before the men's bodies could be extracted. The driver of the Jeep, an off-duty police lieutenant heading home from work, suffered minor injuries.

Police said the driver of the Yukon, Robert Brenzenger Jr., 33, was visibly impaired at the crash site. They found pills and a syringe in his truck. He was unhurt.

On Tuesday, Brenzenger, of the Mayfair section, was awaiting arraignment for two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, said Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office.

No one answered the door to Brenzenger's home on the 3100 block of Knorr Street on Tuesday afternoon. (Authorities gave an alternate spelling for Brenzenger as Bregenzer.)

Relatives gathered at Pan's home Tuesday. But his wife was not there. She was in the hospital, having collapsed from stomach pains in the morning after identifying her husband's body.

"She's too sad," said Yang Lo, 31, a cousin of Pan. "She couldn't take it."

Lo and Pauline Lui, 27, also a cousin of Pan, said they did not know the condition of Ming or her baby.

Pan and Ming had been married for about two years. Pan had come to America when he was in his 20s, his relatives said. Ming had come more recently.

"They really wanted kids," Lo said. "They were so happy."

From his job as a chef, Pan sent money home to his parents in Guandong, near the South China Sea coast. And he helped support other family members who had immigrated to Philadelphia.

His relatives said they did not know how the family would pay for his burial. They cried for Ming and the children who had lost a father.

"We are all thinking about how are we going to help his wife and kids?" Lo said.

Nearby, Chan's daughter and other relatives stood teary-eyed in front of Chan's home. Those in the group did not speak fluent English, but they did not need to say much.

"We are all sad," said one of the crying women.