On the afternoon of last month near Jonggak Station in Jongno District, Seoul, a taxi driver in his 70s who caused a multi-vehicle collision that left more than 10 casualties was sent to prosecutors without detention.
The Jongno Police Station in Seoul said on the 24th that on the 11th it referred without detention a man in his 70s, a person surnamed Lee, on charges including death and injury under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents and violation of the Road Traffic Act.
At about 6:07 p.m. on the 2nd of last month, Lee, while driving a taxi near Jonggak Station, suddenly accelerated and caused a multi-vehicle collision. In the crash, a female pedestrian in her 40s died and 14 people, including Lee, were injured.
The taxi A was driving suddenly accelerated, plowed into a crosswalk, pedestrians, and a utility pole, then turned left and successively crashed into two passenger cars waiting at a signal.
Police said Lee, who was overworked, had taken cold medicine and was driving when the crash occurred. They dropped the initially applied charge of drugged driving.
Right after the crash, a quick drug test showed a positive reaction for morphine, and police sought an arrest warrant for Lee on suspicion of drugged driving, but a subsequent detailed test by the National Forensic Service found all drug components to be negative.