[Comprehensive] "If you die, I'll take responsibility" Taxi driver who blocked ambulance faces punishment, public petition surpasses 450,000 signatures

Petition Urging Punishment of Taxi Driver Nears 500,000 Signatures

A black box video attached by the petitioner who posted on the Blue House National Petition on the 3rd. The petitioner claimed that the taxi driver should handle the accident and leave, and that they argued for 10 minutes, including getting out of the car to take photos. Photo captured from YouTube

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] A Blue House petition demanding severe punishment for a taxi driver who blocked an ambulance carrying an emergency patient has surpassed 450,000 signatures as of the 5th.

At the time of the accident, the ambulance was unable to quickly transport an elderly patient in her 80s to the emergency room due to a dispute with the taxi driver, and the patient eventually passed away. The son released the black box footage showing the situation and petitioned for the taxi driver to be punished.

In the video, the taxi driver says, "Is this really an emergency patient?", "If the patient dies, I will take responsibility," and "Call 119, not a private ambulance," while blocking the patient's transport to the hospital. The bereaved family expressed outrage, saying they never received an apology from the taxi driver.

According to the petition, on the afternoon of the 8th of last month at around 3:15 PM, a private ambulance changing lanes on a road near Godeok Station on Seoul Subway Line 5 in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, was involved in a collision with a taxi about 100 meters before Gangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital.

At the time of the accident, the ambulance was transporting an elderly woman in her 80s with stage 4 lung cancer to Kyung Hee University Hospital. After the accident, the ambulance driver told the taxi driver, "There is an emergency patient, so please let us take her to the hospital first."

Photo by Cheongwadae National Petition Capture

The petitioner said, "The ambulance driver repeatedly said we need to go to the hospital, but the taxi driver rudely replied, 'We need to handle the accident first, where do you think you're going? If the patient needs to go to the hospital, I will call 119 for her.'"

He added, "The taxi driver also said to the ambulance driver, 'If that patient dies, I will take responsibility. There is no emergency patient here, so you deliberately turned on the siren to rush.' He even opened the ambulance's rear door and took pictures," he added.

According to the writer, the patient who arrived at the emergency room did not open her eyes and died five hours later.

The petitioner appealed, "We are waiting for police punishment, but the charge is only obstruction of business. Thinking that the taxi driver will receive only a light punishment and be released breaks my heart."

The petitioner and the deceased woman's son appeared on JTBC's on the 4th, urging severe punishment for the taxi driver.

He explained the situation at the time of the accident: "My wife and father were both riding in the ambulance, and my wife told the taxi driver that we needed to get to the emergency room quickly. She said the accident handling was recorded on the black box and could be done later since it was a minor accident. Despite this, the taxi driver insisted that the patient should be sent by calling 119 and that the accident should be handled first. He kept insisting on this, and eventually, the taxi driver called 119, and the emergency responders arrived."

Photo by Han Moon-cheol TV, a 'traffic accident specialist lawyer' capture

Regarding the arrival of 119, he said, "The weather was very hot that day, and the sun was shining on my mother's face, but my father covered her face with his palm. Then I arrived, and shortly after, 119 arrived. The 119 paramedics and I took my mother in the ambulance, and we went straight to the emergency room."

About his mother's condition upon arrival at the hospital, he said, "When we arrived and entered the emergency room, I witnessed my mother having vaginal bleeding. She had never experienced bleeding before. Because the situation was urgent, the doctors had to find the cause of the bleeding, so they performed both an upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy. There was no bleeding in the stomach. After the upper endoscopy and while preparing for the colonoscopy, she passed away."

The bereaved family expressed outrage, saying they never received an apology from the taxi driver. The son said, "There was no apology call, and I don't even know the driver's name or age. There was no apology call or anything like that."

Meanwhile, the petition demanding punishment for the taxi driver had 459,670 supporters as of 7 AM that day.