A serious motorcycle accident occurred while changing lanes...Why was the driver who left the scene 'not prosecuted'?

A man in his 40s who had been investigated for causing an accident while changing lanes and running away was not indicted.

According to the legal community on the 24th, the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict driver A, who was suspected of causing death by fleeing under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Crimes in January.

Mr. A was suspected of causing a non-contact accident while driving a car in September 2024 while changing lanes from two lanes to one lane.

At the time, the motorcyclist B, who was riding behind him, tried to change lanes at the same time as Mr. A, but suddenly braked and fell. As a result of this accident, Mr. B suffered a serious injury of 12 weeks.

Afterwards, Mr. A left the scene without any relief measures and was investigated.

Person A denied the charges.

Although he saw the motorcycle fall right after changing lanes, he did not realize that the accident was caused by him.

At the same time, the motorcycle was traveling faster than the speed limit at the time, so it was thought that the motorcycle fell while suddenly braking alone.

The police reported that Mr. A was guilty of the charges based on the fact that he left the scene immediately after the accident and forwarded the case to the prosecution.

However, the prosecution's judgment was different.

After reviewing the black box video, accident details, road conditions, etc., we believed that it would have been difficult for Mr. A to recognize that the accident was caused by him.

The prosecution explained that, in particular, the motorcycle driver was traveling over the speed limit of 30 km/h at the time, and Mr. A may have thought that the victim had caused the accident alone due to road conditions while slowing down.

In addition, considering that Mr. A obeyed the signals and drove in accordance with the general traffic flow after the accident, it is difficult to admit that he intended to run away or avoid relief measures even after recognizing the accident.

Attorney Dae-som Yoon of the Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, "In a non-contact accident that occurred immediately after changing lanes, recognition of the accident is a key issue," and added, "Considering the driving speed of the motorcycle, the accident pattern, and subsequent driving behavior, we were able to draw a decision not to prosecute by legally demonstrating that there is a sufficient possibility that our client did not recognize the cause of the accident."

#Accident #Non-indictment #Injury while running away #Accident recognition

Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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Severe motorcycle accident occurs while changing lanes...Why is the driver who left the scene 'not prosecuted'? (Shortcut)