Walking Steadily Without Staggering on CCTV and Climbing Over Fence
"No Communication or Behavioral Issues but Cannot Remember"
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Various suspicions are emerging online regarding the blackout claim made by friend A, who drank with university student Son Jeong-min (22), who went missing and was found dead at Hangang Park.
On the 28th, on an internet community, it was easy to find claims that A was not in a blackout state, citing CCTV footage showing A walking steadily without staggering and accurately climbing over the fence. Son’s father, Son Hyun (50), also cited as evidence △a photo of A using a phone on tiptoe and witness statements that A was wandering around △A crossing the double fence and moving directly to the scene without delay △A passing through a rabbit hole alone without staggering.
Experts have different opinions. Gong Jeong-sik, a professor of criminal psychology at Kyonggi University, said, "There are two types of blackouts: complete blackout and fragmentary blackout. When consuming alcohol, a fragmentary blackout occurs where parts of memory are lost," adding, "It may seem like there are no problems with communication and behavior, but memories after that point are lost." He continued, "The possibility of blackout decreases if there is a stimulating factor, such as in cases of sudden crimes," and "People often fail to remember trivial matters." Professor Gong stated that it is difficult to determine the authenticity of a blackout and added, "It may be possible to distinguish whether the blackout claim is true or not by analyzing statements or using a lie detector."
If the blackout claim is true, it is practically difficult to recall the situation at that time. Im Myeong-ho, a professor of psychology at Dankook University, said, "Usually, in cases of memory loss, people do not remember before a certain point, but blackout means not remembering after that point," explaining, "Simply put, it means having no memory from the time of heavy drinking until the next morning." He added, "A blackout means that due to alcohol or drugs, the memory system malfunctions and memories are not stored, so even hypnosis is unlikely to retrieve memories from that time."
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