GWANGJU — Police in Gwangju have booked a Thai man in his 30s on suspicion of striking a 9-year-old girl with an electric scooter and fleeing the scene. The man was arrested five days later on unrelated drug charges and was being held at a detention facility at the Mokpo Police Station.
The Gwangsan Police Station said on the 2nd that it had booked the 36-year-old, identified only as A, on charges including fleeing the scene of an accident causing injury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes. A is suspected of riding an electric scooter without a driver's license near a railway underpass by Exit 4 of Dosan Station in Gwangju's Gwangsan District at about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 23, hitting a third-grade elementary school girl and leaving without offering help. A, who had overstayed a visa, told police he fled because he feared his status would be exposed.
A was arrested on Sept. 28 on suspicion of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics. Broadcaster YTN reported that the arrest took place at his home in Gwangju's Pyeongdong area. A warrant for his detention was issued on Oct. 1 while he was under questioning by the Mokpo Police Station. With no closed-circuit television cameras at the crash site, investigators had struggled to trace the rider, but they identified A through canvassing and tips from the public and questioned him about the accident at the detention facility. A initially denied the allegations but admitted to them under continued questioning. A Thai woman who was riding on the scooter with him has also told police she intends to turn herself in.
The girl's father wrote in an online community post on Sept. 30 that his daughter could lose three teeth. He appealed for witnesses who had seen the scooter, a purple model with a smiley-face sticker. Police had narrowed their search after receiving a tip that the scooter had been spotted around the Pyeongdong industrial complex.
Under the aggravated punishment law, a driver who flees without aiding a victim and causes injury faces at least one year in prison or a fine of between 5 million won and 30 million won. Police said they would decide how to proceed with A's case after further investigation.
