Public Servant Who Threw Curbstone Gets 4-Year Prison Term Upheld on Appeal
A public servant in his 50s who threw a curbstone onto a road, killing a delivery motorcycle rider, has been sentenced to four years in prison on appeal as well. The Daejeon High Court's Criminal Division 1-2 rejected both Mr. A's appeal and the prosecution's appeal against the verdict on charges of assault resulting in death. The court found that on November 6, 2021, at around 1 a.m., Mr. A threw a curbstone beside a row of trees from a sidewalk in Wolpyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, onto a four-lane road for no apparent reason, causing Mr. B, a delivery rider in his 20s, to fall and ultimately die. Mr. B was a young entrepreneur who had built his own snack food business.
During the police investigation, Mr. A stated that he had been drunk and claimed there was no intent behind his act. He also invoked diminished mental capacity, citing a history of psychiatric treatment. However, CCTV footage showed Mr. A standing for a long while after throwing the curbstone, watching the spot. When the motorcycle rider struck the stone and fell, Mr. A took no rescue measures and instead boarded an unbooked taxi as if he were a reserved passenger, leaving the scene.
The appeals court cited CCTV analysis by the National Forensic Service, noting that given the motorcycle's speed and other factors, Mr. A could have foreseen that the rider might die from head injuries and other trauma, yet he fled the scene hastily in an unbooked taxi without providing aid or calling 119. In explaining the sentence, the court acknowledged that the victim's life ended at a young age with irreversible consequences, but also comprehensively considered mitigating factors, including Mr. A's lack of prior criminal record and the accidental nature of the offense.
As the delivery industry grows, so do the risks faced by its workers. The number of delivery workers rose from 264,000 in 2023 to 330,000 in 2024 and 366,000 last year. Over the same period, casualties in delivery rider traffic accidents increased from 6,534 to 6,692 and 6,745. Industrial accident deaths among courier drivers stood at 38 in 2023, 32 in 2024, and 40 last year.
