An Ellicott City man was killed early yesterday after falling out of the rear passenger side of a moving car, police said.

Mark Ju Lee, 43, of the 3100 block of Wheaton Way was sitting in the right rear seat of a 1996 Honda Accord that was traveling south on Route 29 near Johns Hopkins Road just after midnight when he fell out of the car, police said.

Police said that the driver, Youn Hee Cho of Silver Spring, told them that she was driving 55 mph on Route 29 when she noticed that Lee had fallen out of the car.

There were no other passengers in the vehicle.

Police said that Lee was not wearing a seat belt and that he was intoxicated.

"The actual cause of death is still under investigation," said Sgt. Morris Carroll, a spokesman for the Howard County Police Department.

Carroll said that investigators are trying to determine how the car door opened and whether Lee was fatally struck by a passing car or was killed on impact when he fell to the road.

Pub Date: 8/21/98