Actor Lee Jae-ryong, 62, who is accused of leaving the scene after crashing into a median while driving in Seoul's Gangnam and then engaging in so-called "sultagi," has been sent to trial. However, prosecutors found it difficult to prove drunk driving, so that charge was excluded from the indictment.
According to legal sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Criminal Division 7 (Chief Prosecutor Cho Yoon-cheol) indicted Lee without detention on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act (failure to take measures after an accident and obstruction of a breath test).
Lee is accused of driving near Cheongdam Station on Subway Line 7 in Gangnam District, Seoul, at about 11 p.m. on Mar. 6, crashing into a median, and leaving the scene without taking necessary measures.
According to prosecutors, Lee was arrested by police about three hours after the crash, after attending another drinking gathering immediately afterward. Police determined he had attempted so-called "sultagi," drinking more after the accident to conceal drunk driving, and referred the case to prosecutors on both drunk driving and obstruction of a breath test charges.
However, prosecutors declined to indict on the drunk driving charge.
Prosecutors applied the Widmark formula, which estimates blood alcohol concentration at the time of an incident based on a drinker's weight, amount consumed and time, and concluded it was difficult to determine that Lee's blood alcohol concentration while driving was at least 0.03%, the threshold for drunk driving penalties.
Courts maintain that when applying the Widmark formula, blood alcohol concentration should be calculated in the manner most favorable to the defendant. Prosecutors also determined, under this standard, that evidence for drunk driving was insufficient.
However, prosecutors sent the case to trial on the view that the act of making a breath test difficult through additional drinking after the crash and the failure to take necessary measures after the accident are supported by evidence.
The current Road Traffic Act defines as a separate crime the use of alcohol or medication for the purpose of obstructing a breath test. This provision, known as the "sultagi prevention law," was established in the wake of the Kim Ho-joong case and has been in effect since June last year.