Taxi Driver Acquitted for Leaving Passenger on Late-Night Car-Only Road Leading to Death

Ulsan District Court: "Not in an abnormal state due to intoxication, strongly demanded to get off"

Ulsan District Court.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A taxi driver accused of leaving a drunken passenger in his 20s on a highway late at night, resulting in the passenger's death, was acquitted.

The Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 12 (Presiding Judge Hwang Woon-seo) announced on the 26th that taxi driver A (69), who was tried on charges of negligent homicide, was found not guilty.

In April 2019, A dropped off passenger B, who was intoxicated, on a highway in Ulsan and left. B was later struck and killed by another vehicle.

The prosecution charged A, arguing that he should have foreseen the risk of an accident on a road where pedestrians are not allowed and that by dropping off B there, he caused B's death.

The court ruled that it was difficult for A to have known that B was in an abnormal state due to heavy intoxication and that B strongly expressed the intention to get off the taxi.

CCTV footage showing B getting into the taxi indicated that B boarded without staggering, and when speaking to A about the destination, B's pronunciation was clear.

The court explained, "A's testimony that he believed B was a truck driver because B asked to be dropped off near a parked truck on the roadside was also deemed credible."

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