Police Officer Who Submitted False Medical Certificate to Cover Hit-and-Run... Suspended Sentence Confirmed

Not Guilty of 'Wanted List Leak' Charge... Court: "Illegally Obtained Evidence"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] A police officer who asked an oriental medicine doctor to fabricate evidence to cover up a hit-and-run crime has been confirmed guilty.

The Supreme Court's 1st Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) announced on the 17th that it upheld the lower court's ruling sentencing police officer A (51), who was indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (hit-and-run vehicle), obstruction of official duties by deception, and instigation of evidence forgery, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation.

A, who worked in a district police station in Incheon, hit a high school student (then 17 years old) crossing the road while driving in July 2013 and fled the scene. When A came under police investigation, he asked an oriental medicine doctor B, whom he knew personally, to issue a false medical record to claim that he left the accident scene due to illness and had no intention to flee, and submitted it to the investigative authorities.

B issued a false medical record stating that A had right facial nerve paralysis, and A explained to the investigation team and the appeal review committee that "after the traffic accident, I had facial paralysis and entrusted the accident handling to an acquaintance and went to the hospital." Additionally, A was also charged with taking a photo of a wanted list screen of a specific person in April 2015 and sending it to another acquaintance, hospital director C.

The first trial recognized all charges against A as guilty, stating, "The crime damages public trust in police officers, and the nature of the crime is serious," and sentenced him to 1 year in prison. Oriental medicine doctor B, who wrote the false medical record, was fined 5 million won.

However, the second trial ruled that the charge of leaking official secrets to C among A's charges should be acquitted, citing illegal evidence collection.

During the investigation of C for bribery and other charges, the investigative authorities seized the hospital without a separate warrant and confiscated C's mobile phone, from which the wanted person information photo was found. Based on this, additional investigation into A was conducted.

Ultimately, the second trial concluded that the charges of leaking official secrets and violating the Personal Information Protection Act applied to A were based on illegally obtained evidence and could not be convicted, reducing the sentence to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation.

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