A Prank in Middle School "Apologize Quickly"... Late Fracture Diagnosis Leads to Criminal Charges in Adulthood

Junior's ankle tripped causing spinal fracture
Chuncheon District Court fines 1 million won for assault and injury charge

A case has emerged where an individual who tripped a junior soccer club member as a prank during middle school was sentenced to a fine rather than juvenile protection measures after becoming an adult.

According to Yonhap News on the 16th, Mr. A (19) was tried on charges of injuring junior B (then 13) by tripping him during a prank in the living room of the soccer club dormitory at a middle school in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, in January 2020, when he was 14 years old. At that time, B suffered a closed fracture of the axis, one of the vertebrae, with an unspecified treatment period. The Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Park Seong-min) sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted for assault causing injury, to a fine of 1 million won.

A case has emerged where a person who tripped a junior soccer team member's ankle as a prank during middle school was sentenced to a fine, not juvenile protection measures, after becoming an adult. Getty Images

During the trial, Mr. A's side argued, "The victim tripped and fell during mutual horseplay, and the defendant had no intent to assault," and "There is no causal relationship between the injury that occurred several months after the defendant's actions and the defendant's conduct."

However, the court did not accept Mr. A's claims. The court based its guilty verdict on ▲ the fact that the victim briefly lost consciousness and went to the emergency room on the day of the incident ▲ the medical opinion from the Korean Medical Association's Medical Appraisal Institute stating "there is a possibility of causality between A's actions and B's injury" ▲ and records of Mr. A's statement to investigators admitting, "I intentionally tripped the victim's ankle while playing around."

Furthermore, considering that nine months after the injury, in October 2020, B experienced severe numbness in his limbs while heading the ball and was diagnosed with an axis fracture and other conditions at the hospital, and that B had no similar symptoms before, the court concluded that the symptoms manifested belatedly due to the assault.

Presiding Judge Park stated, "The extent of the victim's injuries is not minor," but added, "However, considering that the defendant is a first-time offender, was only 14 years old at the time of the offense, and appears to have acted with the intention of playing a prank, the sentence was determined accordingly."