Pedestrian Hit by Vehicle Protests, Then Struck in Eye Area
Also Threatened "I'll Kill You" with a Weapon... Sentenced to 1 Year and 8 Months in Prison
A teenage driver who punched a traffic accident victim with a knuckle duster, putting the victim at risk of blindness, was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
According to a Yonhap News report on the 29th, Judge Song Baek-hyun of the Suwon District Court Criminal Division 1 sentenced A (19), who was charged with special injury and special intimidation, to 1 year and 8 months in prison.
On January 7th at around 2:20 a.m., A was driving a Kona vehicle and reversing on a road in Paldal-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, when he hit pedestrian B. When B protested, A, wearing a knuckle duster (a metal blunt weapon worn like a ring on the fingers) on his right hand, got out of the car and punched B once in the left eye area, leading to his indictment.
Additionally, A threatened B, who blocked his vehicle trying to leave the scene, by showing a weapon and saying, "I will kill you." He is also charged with threatening another teenage pedestrian whom he hit with his car, saying, "Shall I hit you once?" when confronted.
CCTV footage released by MBC shows the white vehicle driven by A reversing and colliding with pedestrian couple B before stopping. As B looked toward the vehicle and then turned away, A got out of the car and suddenly threw a punch at B's face.
B, who was struck in the left eye area, underwent surgery lasting four hours but is reported to be at risk of blindness. Moreover, the accident occurred on the couple’s second wedding anniversary.
B’s wife told MBC, "My husband said, 'Wait, this car hit me,' and I asked, 'Are you okay?' I was telling him to just go if he was fine and looked at the driver's seat. But as soon as their eyes met, A got out of the car and punched him instantly." She added, "His eyesight is now almost impossible to recover, so it can be considered blindness. He suffered an orbital fracture, but they said bone and eye surgeries cannot be done simultaneously. The eye surgery comes first, and now the fracture remains."
Despite sustaining serious injuries, B blocked A’s vehicle at the scene, but A sped away. A was caught by the police about 10 minutes later after being chased by citizens who witnessed the crime.
Judge Song stated, "The defendant committed crimes against the victims while unable to control his anger during driving, and especially inflicted injury and intimidation on victim B without just cause. The dangerous items the defendant possessed are lethal and not something one would normally carry, and B suffered serious injuries that put him at risk of blindness."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
