'Incheon Weapon Rampage' Police Officers Guilty of 'Dereliction of Duty' for Inadequate Response

Court Sentences 1 Year Imprisonment with 2 Years Probation and Orders 120 Hours of Community Service

Two years ago, former police officers who were prosecuted for inadequate response during the 'Incheon Stabbing Incident' were found guilty of dereliction of duty.

On the 21st, Judge Lee Ju-young of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 17 sentenced former Sergeant A (49, male) and former Police Officer B (25, female), both charged with dereliction of duty, to one year in prison with a two-year probation. They were also each ordered to perform 120 hours of community service.

The two former officers were indicted without detention for their inadequate response when dispatched to the scene of a stabbing incident that occurred in a villa in Namdong-gu, Incheon, in November 2021. They failed to stop C (50, male), who lived on the 4th floor of the villa, from wielding a weapon against a woman in her 40s residing on the 3rd floor, and they left the scene without protecting the victim. At the time, the victim was stabbed in the neck and underwent brain surgery, and her husband and daughter also sustained injuries to their faces and hands.

Police officers who responded during the Incheon stabbing incident [Provided by the victim's side=Yonhap News]

The judge stated, "Former Sergeant A was outside the villa when he heard screams and entered through the shared front door on the first floor. While going up the stairs, he heard from former Police Officer B, who was coming down, that 'someone was stabbed with a knife.' Even if he did not know the specific details of the crime, he could have known that a crime had occurred."

He added, "Afterwards, former Sergeant A, who did not go up to the 3rd floor where the incident occurred, followed former Police Officer B outside the villa, then reopened the shared front door and took more than three minutes to go to the crime scene. At that time, he was also armed with a weapon capable of subduing the suspect."

The judge said, "The defendants, as police officers, had the duty to protect the lives and bodies of the public and suppress the crime, but they abandoned their duties by leaving the crime scene, undermining public trust." However, he explained the sentencing by stating, "former Police Officer B admitted her wrongdoing and showed remorse in court, and considering that the defendants have no prior criminal records, among other factors."

Earlier, at the sentencing hearing held in July, the prosecution requested the maximum statutory sentence of one year imprisonment for dereliction of duty for both former Sergeant A and former Police Officer B, stating that "strict punishment is necessary."

Meanwhile, former Sergeant A and former Police Officer B, who were dismissed for violating their duty of sincerity after the incident, filed administrative lawsuits claiming the disciplinary actions were unfair but lost. C was arrested and indicted on charges of attempted murder and received a final sentence of 22 years in prison.

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