"The taxi driver who caused my mother's death is so infuriating... This kind of incident must never happen"

A black box video from the time of the accident, released by the petitioner who posted "Please punish the taxi driver who stopped the ambulance with an emergency patient" on the Blue House National Petition Board. Photo by YouTube capture

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Min Jun-young] A Blue House petition requesting punishment for a taxi driver who blocked an ambulance transporting an emergency patient has surpassed 540,000 signatures as of the 6th. The deceased patient's son, Minho Kim, said, "I am very outraged, and this kind of incident must never happen again."

On the 6th, in an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' Kim said, "I don't know the law well, but I want all possible punishments under current law to be applied to the taxi driver."

He recalled, "(My mother) had been battling cancer for three years, and that day she was especially unable to eat and was struggling, so we called an ambulance. My wife and father also went along."

Then, PD Kim Hyun-jung revealed a black box video containing the taxi driver's voice at the time of the accident.

In the released video, the taxi driver argued with the ambulance driver, saying, "If she dies, I'll take responsibility. Do you think I haven't done private ambulance work, sir? We have to handle the accident first, you can't just leave. Is there no paramedic here?"

Kim explained, "This quarrel lasted about 11 to 12 minutes on the street. The actual situation was that 119 (emergency services) arrived, and the paramedics and I took my mother into the 119 vehicle, but there was a 15-minute delay until then," adding, "The ambulance doors were open in that heat, and the scene continued like that."

He continued, "Both the side and rear doors were open, and I’m not sure if the air conditioning was on," and said, "As shown in the released video, they simply would not let us pass."

He added, "Among the things I heard at the scene, the words 'If the patient dies, I'll take responsibility, send her by 119' hurt me the most," and said, "When we got to the emergency room, I was very shocked to see my mother bleeding heavily. From that moment, her condition rapidly worsened beyond control, and the doctors were also overwhelmed."

He said, "She passed away five hours after arrival. I deeply regret not getting there a little sooner," and lamented, "When I asked the police what charges would apply, they said, 'Under current law, it would be obstruction of business,' which made me even more outraged and angry."

He added, "I have not contacted the taxi driver since, and even if he contacted me, I don’t think I could bear to hear his voice," and expressed, "But it’s too frustrating and unfair to just let this go."

Finally, when asked if he had a message for the taxi driver, he said, "You must have parents too. When your parents get old and weak and need to use an ambulance, how could you have acted like that? I just cannot understand it."

Meanwhile, the Blue House petition calling for punishment of the taxi driver had 548,326 supporters as of 9:30 a.m. that day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.