Senser's Roseville Victim Remembered as 'Kind, Generous Man'

On August 23 , 38, a Roseville chef who left his home country of Laos at age 16 to come to the United States, ran out of gas on the Riverside Avenue exit of Interstate 94.

When Phanthavong, a Thai chef, got out of his car to refill the tank, he was hit and killed by Amy Senser, wife of former Minnesota Vikings player Joe Senser. Senser drove away and was convicted Monday on two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and sentenced to 41 months in prison.

Many of Phanthavong’s family and friends were in attendance at Senser’s Monday sentencing, and two large photos of Phanthavong were hung in the courtroom.

The Pioneer Press reported that statements from his family and friends were read in court and painted a picture of Phanthavong as a “kind, generous man.” Here’s more from the Pioneer Press story:

[He] initially stayed behind in war-torn Laos to care for his grandfather while the rest of his family came to the United States. He was 10.

Phanthavong was 16 when he arrived in the U.S. after his grandfather died. He struggled to integrate himself into American life, turning to drugs and alcohol for a time, said his niece, Sayaphone Phouthavongsay. But the Roseville resident then began working at True Thai and became an accomplished chef and a trusted colleague, frequently giving rides home to fellow workers who lived as far away as Brooklyn Park. [...]

Anna Prasomphol Fieser, co-owner of True Thai, said in a statement read by Souksavanh Phanthavong that in her nine years of working with him at the restaurant, “he became my best friend, my right hand man, my rock.”

Fieser, who immigrated from Thailand, was raised a Catholic, but learned about Buddhism from Phanthavong, Fieser said, recalling the Buddhist principle that compares holding onto anger with picking up hot coals: “You are the one getting burned.”

The Star Tribune’s story on the verdict also included anecdotes on Phanthavong’s life in the United States:

His niece, Sayaphone Phouthavongsay, reminisced of a kind, gentle uncle who once offered her $10 to pluck all of his gray hairs. Kono Phanthavong said his brother, who stayed behind in their native Laos to care for an ailing grandfather, arrived when he was 16. At first the brothers suffered a culture clash, he said, but connected over dreams to open a restaurant together.

"Now it will never happen, he said. "My older brother is gone forever."