Elementary School Student Fire Shutter Neck Entrapment Accident, School Officials Given Probation and Fines

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jucheol In] Regarding the incident in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, where an elementary school student’s neck was caught in a fire shutter, the facility manager who operated the device at the time and a school official were sentenced to probation and fines by the court.

On the 14th, Judge Cha Dong-gyeong of the Changwon District Court Criminal Division 6 announced that facility manager A (64), who was tried on charges of negligence causing injury, was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a 3-year probation and 160 hours of community service, and school official B (51) was fined 10 million won.

A is accused of operating the fire shutter on the first floor duty room on the morning of September 30, 2019, injuring a student who was attending school at the time. The student lost consciousness after their neck was caught in the fire shutter. At the time, A operated the fire shutter repeatedly turning the lamp off and on to check for abnormalities, which caused the accident.

Judge Cha stated, “A recklessly operated the manual switch of the fire shutter without properly understanding how to operate it, so the degree of negligence is not light,” and “B was in the position of fire safety manager at the time but had not received prior reports about the shutter nor any professional related training.”

After the verdict, the Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education Public Officials Union issued a statement criticizing, “Although the responsibility for student safety accidents lies with the school principal, the principal was cleared of charges, and the administrative officer, a grade 6 union member, is bearing the responsibility, which is regrettable.”

Previously, the prosecution investigating this case had cleared the school principal of charges.

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