I-380 wrong-way crash victim David Nguyen was ‘a great kid — a great brother’

CEDAR RAPIDS - The night he was killed, David Nguyen was out with his older brother and three friends they had grown up with to celebrate a birthday.

The older brother, Daniel, parted ways with the group about 11 p.m.

'It was a good night,” Daniel recalled Thursday. 'We were celebrating Ben (Brecht's) birthday. We went bowling and go-carting then they went downtown.”

Three hours later, at 2 a.m. March 7, a wrong-way driver on Interstate 380 slammed into the sport utility vehicle as the four friends were heading to Perkin's for some late-night food.

David Nguyen, 23, was killed in the crash. Driver Rylee Brooke Wallingford, 20, and passengers Benjamin Phillip Brecht, 23, and Skyler McDowell, 22, all of Cedar Rapids, were injured.

'They did everything right,” Daniel said. His brother's girlfriend - Rylee - was a designated driver and wasn't drinking, he said.

'They did everything they were supposed to do to be safe and responsible,” said Daniel, 26, 'and then this happened.”

According to Cedar Rapids police, an Illinois murder defendant out on bail was driving the wrong way in downtown's S-curve and smashed into the northbound SUV.

The wrong-way driver, identified by police as Tyler S. Lee, 34, of Rockton, Ill., received minor injuries and was taken to a hospital where he was treated and released.

Now over 10 days since the fatal crash, Lee has not been charged in it and was not detained.

He was the sole occupant of a Ford F-150 pickup headed southbound in the northbound lanes, Cedar Rapids police said.

Police said it is unclear how long Lee had been driving the wrong way before the crash. The wreck occurred just north of the Seventh Street NE exit, police said. The nearest ramp north is H Avenue NE.

The police department declined to give more details, including whether investigators suspect alcohol or drugs were involved, citing an ongoing investigation.

'Accident reconstruction specialists are continuing to investigate the fatal collision,” public safety spokesperson Greg Buelow told The Gazette in an email Thursday. 'Investigators have collected evidence and will be using toxicology reports, as they are available, to present charges to the County Attorney's Office.”

Records show Lee is a defendant in a murder case in Winnebago County, Ill. According to the Winnebago County Circuit Court Clerk's Office, he is charged with first-degree murder and 11 other offenses stemming from a fatal shooting in Loves Park, a small city about 80 miles northwest of Chicago.

The circuit court clerk's office said a bill of indictment charging Lee with murder was filed Nov. 1, 2017, and his bail was set at $1 million.

He was released roughly two weeks later, on Nov. 16, 2017, when $100,000 - or 10 percent - was posted, according to the clerk's office.

Court records show that the conditions of his bond were modified on Sept. 4, 2018, when a judge gave Lee permission to travel to Wisconsin for job purposes.

What Lee was doing in Iowa - or if he had the court's permission to be here - was unknown. A call to his Illinois attorney's office Thursday went unreturned.

Daniel Nguyen said he had been home only a few hours March 7 when he got the call that his brother was dead.

'It was unbelievable,” he said. 'I thought it couldn't be him, I was just with him.”

David, he said, was the middle of three boys. Their youngest brother, Dale, is 21. All three brothers were born and raised in Cedar Rapids.

'He was a great kid - a great brother,” Daniel said. 'He was super nice, always there to help. He would help anyone - his friends, his family. If needed something, he'd be and I called him, he'd come right away - in a heartbeat.”

Daniel said David was 'one of those people that everyone just loves.”

'He had a lot of friends and his girlfriend, Rylee. He had a good job and was just about to move into his dream home. He was in a good place in his life and he was really happy,” he said.

His absence has left a huge hole in the family, Daniel said.

'We're all just doing the best we can to get through each day,” he said. 'Of course it's hard. Our family is very close.”

And though it is hard on the family to know that an arrest has not been made in his brother's death, Daniel said he and his family 'trust the process and believe that investigators are doing what they need to.”

Comments: (319) 398-8238; kat.russell@thegazette.com