Police Officer Who Crashed Into a Pole While Drunk Driving and Fled Later Turns Himself In at the Police Station

Active Police Officer Causes Accident and Flees After Drunk Driving
Surrenders to Mapo Police Station... Blood Alcohol Concentration 0.03%

An active police officer caused an accident while driving under the influence and fled the scene without taking any action, but eventually surrendered.

Exterior view of Goyang Police Station, Gyeonggi Province.
Photo by Yonhap News

On the 26th, the Goyang Police Station in Gyeonggi Province reported that around 8 p.m. on the 25th, Sergeant A, affiliated with a police station in the northern Gyeonggi area, crashed his privately owned passenger car into a road sign pole at Guryong Intersection in Goyang City.

Sergeant A escaped from the overturned car immediately after the accident and left the scene, but shortly afterward, he went to the nearby Mapo Police Station in Seoul and surrendered. At that time, Sergeant A's blood alcohol concentration was confirmed to be above 0.03%, the level for license suspension.

The police are investigating the circumstances of the accident with Sergeant A.

Driving a vehicle while intoxicated, or refusing to comply with a police officer's measurement when there is reasonable cause to believe the person is intoxicated, can result in imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 10 million won, and may lead to suspension or cancellation of the driver's license. If the blood alcohol concentration is 0.1% or higher, the license is canceled, and if it is 0.36% or higher, detention is warranted. Upon a third offense of drunk driving, the "three strikes out" rule under the Road Traffic Act Enforcement Regulations applies, resulting in automatic license cancellation. The period during which license re-acquisition is prohibited is two years.