A drunk man dies in cold spell after police bring him in front of his home

Concerning the incident involving the death of a drunk man in his 60s due to hypothermia in front of his house during a cold spell, police officers who answered a 112 emergency call and did not escort the man into his house were fined. There has been internal dissent within the police force, denouncing this as a "judgment that does not align with reality."

As of Sunday, a criminal judge at the Seoul Northern District Court issued summary fines of 5 million won and 4 million won, respectively, to two police officers, a sergeant, and a corporal, affiliated with the Mia District Unit of Gangbuk Police Station in Seoul. Following the verdict, it was reported that they received light disciplinary action.

After receiving a report that a drunk person was lying on the street at the end of November 2022, the police took Mr. A, a man in his 60s who was intoxicated, to his home in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, around 1:30 a.m. At that time, the police reportedly withdrew without confirm‎ing that Mr. A had entered the house. With the temperature dropping to minus 8 degrees Celsius and a cold wave warning in effect, the person fell asleep in front of the door and was found dead after being left unattended for over six hours. The bereaved family filed a complaint saying they did not want punishment for the police officers who responded, but the prosecution summarily indicted them in September last year.

"It is practically impossible to escort everyone home given the constant reports of drunken incidents every day," it has been argued within the police. "Most of the time, there are dozens of calls daily concerning intoxicated individuals, and if we were to escort all of them home, we wouldn't be able to perform other duties,” a police officer stationed at a district unit in Seoul remarked. While they could take moral responsibility, imposing legal punishment seems excessive."

According to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Woong, there were 4,655,144 112 reports related to intoxicated individuals over the past five years, averaging 930,000 reports per year from 2019 to last year.


payback@donga.com