In Eumseong County, North Chungcheong Province, a police officer caused an accidental discharge while trying to demonstrate a Taser function to middle school students, injuring one student.
According to the Eumseong Police Station on the 11th, at about 4:30 p.m. on the 10th, one middle school student was struck by an electrode dart from a Taser fired by Sergeant A in a vacant lot in Daeso-eup, Eumseong County.
At the time, after handling another call, Sergeant A was returning when encountering about 10 nearby middle school students. When the students asked to see the Taser, Sergeant A tried to demonstrate the "stun gun" function, which produces only an electric stimulus without firing electrode darts.
However, an electrode-dart cartridge was loaded in the Taser, and Sergeant A pulled the trigger without realizing it. In the process, one dart was fired and lodged in the thigh of a middle school student who was 3–4 meters in front.
Police said the other dart grazed the student's arm, so no current flowed between the two darts.
Police said the student went home because there were no particular complaints at the scene, but later reported pain and was hospitalized for treatment.
Parents, however, were reportedly protesting, saying that current had flowed through the student's body at the time but police did not immediately transport the student to a hospital.
Sergeant A was quoted as saying, "I didn't know the dart would fire."
Police plan to conduct an internal affairs investigation of Sergeant A and look into possible disciplinary action.