Misunderstood as kidnapping, person jumps out of running taxi and dies... All drivers acquitted in the first trial

In the case of the female university student from Pohang, Gyeongbuk, who jumped out of a moving taxi and was hit by a following vehicle, resulting in her death, all the drivers were acquitted in the first trial.

 

On the 28th, the Daegu District Court Pohang Branch Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Song Byeong-hoon) acquitted both Mr. A, a taxi driver in his 60s charged with violating the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling (homicide), and Mr. B, a man in his 40s who was driving an SUV.

 

Earlier, Mr. A picked up university student Ms. C at KTX Pohang Station around 8:46 PM on March 4th of last year. However, Mr. A, who did not hear Ms. C's words properly, drove the taxi to a different destination than the one Ms. C had mentioned.

 

At the time before departure, Mr. A asked Mr. C about the destination, and Mr. C also did not hear it properly and responded "Yes" to Mr. A, who had given the wrong destination.

 

Afterwards, Mr. C, fearing that Mr. A was driving the taxi to a different destination, asked, "Sir, could you please let me off?" However, Mr. A, due to hearing problems and the noise from the vehicle, did not hear this and continued driving. Misunderstanding this as being kidnapped, Mr. C expressed his anxiety to his boyfriend via messenger and then jumped out of the taxi.

 

 

He fell onto the second lane of the road and was hit and killed by the SUV driven by Mr. B, who was following behind.

 

The prosecution determined that Mr. A, who works in the taxi industry, was responsible for causing Mr. C's death due to negligence in hearing management and other occupational faults, and also charged Mr. B for speeding and failing to fulfill the duty of paying attention to the road ahead.

 

However, the court ruled that "Mr. A misrecognized the victim's destination from Pohang Station but drove along a normal road. It could not have been foreseen that the victim, frightened, would jump out of the taxi while driving."

 

It was also judged that Mr. B could not have foreseen Mr. C jumping out of the taxi and that it was difficult to avoid the accident.

 

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Everyone is a victim...ㅠ.ㅠ

 

I feel sorry for the deceased female college student as well...