The family of a Chinese woman killed in a traffic accident in New York on Saturday will leave for the United States soon, pending visa approval.

Feng Huang, 26, from Shanghai was killed early on Saturday after being run over by a car driven by an intoxicated police officer. Her boyfriend, Dennis Loffredo, is still in hospital.

"Feng's parents were frantic with grief at the loss of their daughter," a former college classmate surnamed Gong told China Daily.

"Her parents are trying to get a US visa so they can go and identify and claim the body," she said.

New York police said off-duty Jersey City police officer Martin Abreu, 25, was driving his 2007 Toyota Camry south on West Street when he ran into Feng and Loffredo at the intersection of Albany Street at 3:40 am on Saturday.

Feng was pronounced dead at the scene, while her boyfriend suffered a broken leg, police said.

Abreu was arrested and has been charged with manslaughter, vehicular assault and driving while intoxicated, a New York Police Department spokeswoman said.

Gong claimed Feng's parents are planning to sue the police, but they have made no statement to that effect.

New York police refused to provide the exact results of a sobriety test administered to Abreu other than to say it was above the legal limit, the New York Daily News reported yesterday.

It said the couple was walking back to their apartment near Battery Park City after a night out at the time.

It was not until Sunday that Loffredo found out his girlfriend was dead, it said.

Feng graduated from the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade and moved to the US four years ago, a former classmate surnamed Zhang said.

In 2007, she graduated from New York University's Law School and was scheduled to start a new job on Monday, she said.

"Feng was a lovely young woman and very sweet," Loffredo's mother said.

His parents said they were "distraught" and described the accident as "senseless".

(China Daily February 11, 2009)