A senior police officer has been charged with falsifying arrest documents to make it appear that a hit-and-run driver had been chased down and captured, even though the driver had voluntarily walked into a police substation and confessed.
The Uiseong branch of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office said on the 1st that it indicted a police inspector, identified as A, from a police station in North Gyeongsang Province on the 30th of last month without detention. The charges include abuse of authority in making an arrest, forgery of official electronic records, use of forged official electronic records and violation of the law on promoting the digitization of criminal justice procedures. On May 22, the inspector escorted a suspect, identified as B, who had voluntarily appeared at a substation, to the police station for questioning and then placed the suspect under emergency arrest at about 10:30 p.m. that day. In the arrest report, the inspector is accused of falsely recording the time, place and circumstances of the arrest, stating that the suspect had been chased and apprehended in front of the substation at about 6:16 p.m.
B is accused of causing a traffic accident while intoxicated around midnight on May 22 and fleeing the scene. The victim later died. Police identified B through the vehicle's license plate and other details and went to B's home. Learning of this, B appeared at the substation at about 6 p.m. the same day. During questioning at the police station, B confessed to drunk driving and fleeing the scene.
Prosecutors reviewing the police request for approval of the emergency arrest that same day found the circumstances of the arrest unclear and asked for an explanation. When police renewed the request without providing additional support, prosecutors refused approval early the next morning and ordered B released immediately. After the case was referred to them, prosecutors questioned the officers involved in the arrest and concluded that because B had voluntarily appeared and confessed, there was no risk of flight or destruction of evidence and the requirements for an emergency arrest had not been met. They also confirmed that the account of a chase and capture was false. A prosecution citizens' committee reviewed the handling of the inspector's case and unanimously recommended indictment.
Under the Criminal Procedure Act, an emergency arrest may be made when there is substantial reason to suspect a crime punishable by death, life imprisonment or imprisonment of at least three years, and when there is a risk of destruction of evidence or flight. It is an exceptional coercive measure that detains a person without a warrant from a judge. Under Article 124 of the Criminal Act, abuse of authority in making an arrest is punishable by up to seven years in prison and suspension of eligibility for up to 10 years.
A similar case occurred earlier in Seoul. On July 14, Criminal Division 4 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office indicted a police lieutenant in his 40s from the Yeongdeungpo Police Station, without detention, on the same charges. The officer called a suspect in a special theft case, who had voluntarily appeared, out of the police station, placed the suspect under emergency arrest and falsely wrote in the arrest report that the suspect had been found by chance during a canvassing investigation. The Yeongdeungpo Police Station placed the officer on standby duty on the day of the indictment. Through supplementary investigation, prosecutors established the true circumstances of the arrest and the seizure described in the false documents, and the suspect was released on June 1.
