Tag: Taxi Drivers

ROK Vice Justice Minister Gets Away with Assaulting Cab Driver

Another member of the Moon administration gets away with committing a crime:

This file photo shows Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu. (Yonhap)

 Police are looking into past cases that are similar to the new vice justice minister’s unpunished assault against a taxi driver to determine whether officers took appropriate steps at the time of the incident, a police official said Monday.

Vice Justice Minister Lee Yong-gu has come under fire after it was reported late last week that he got away free following the altercation in early November. 

Lee, who was a lawyer at the time, allegedly grabbed the driver by the collar in an intoxicated state when the man tried to wake him up after arriving at his home in southern Seoul. He was appointed vice minister on Dec. 2. 

“We will once again thoroughly review legal precedents with the help of former jurists, lawyers and senior officials who handled the case at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency,” the official said.

The Seocho Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Lee’s neighborhood, applied charges of assault, a crime not punishable against will, not the heavier charges that apply to assault against a driver in motion.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but can you imagine the reaction if it was a drunk USFK service member that assaulted a cab driver

Seoul Taxi Driver Faces Possible Culpable Homicide Charge for Blocking Ambulance

Remember the taxi driver that impeded an ambulance due to a minor accident where the patient ultimately later died at the hospital? Well he is now facing some serious charges:

A taxi driver suspected of intentionally blocking an ambulance carrying an emergency patient attends a hearing at the Seoul Eastern District Court in eastern Seoul on July 24, 2020. (Yonhap)

A Seoul taxi driver who caused public outrage by blocking an ambulance transferring an emergency patient was formally arrested Friday.

The Seoul Eastern District Court granted an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old driver, citing the possibility that he may flee or destroy evidence. The court said his charges have been sufficiently explained. (……….)

The taxi driver, who was three weeks into the job, quit work two weeks after the accident. 

He was arrested on charges of assault and obstruction of business. Police are looking into whether it is possible for him to be charged with culpable homicide.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Taxi Driver Stops Ambulance with Critically Ill Patient Over Minor Accident

Congratulations to this taxi driver for becoming the new most hated man in Korea:

This image captured from YouTube shows the black box footage of a minor fender bender between a taxi and an ambulance that occurred in Seoul’s Gangdong-gu, June 8.

Public anger has been boiling up over a taxi driver who stopped an ambulance carrying an emergency patient from going to a hospital while demanding that the ambulance driver deal with a minor fender bender between the two cars first.

The minor collision occurred in Seoul’s southeastern Gangdong-gu, June 8. According to the son of the patient, the ambulance driver told the cabbie that he would settle the dispute after taking the patient to the hospital, but the cabbie kept demanding that the car accident be handled first and forced the ambulance to stay in the middle of the road.

While the two drivers quarreled for about 10 minutes, another ambulance arrived and took the patient, a lung cancer patient in her 80s. In the end, the patient died in the emergency room, five hours after she arrived at the hospital. 

In a petition the son posted on the website run by the presidential office, he claimed the patient missed the so-called golden time needed for timely treatment due to the taxi driver.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the ambulance driver should of just drove past this guy after the accident.

Korean Prosecutors Indict Owners of Tada for Running an Illegal Riding Sharing App

The Korean taxi lobby is trying to take out another ride sharing company:

Taxi drivers rally in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 23, 2019, to call for the suspension of operations of ride-hailing startup Tada. (Yonhap)

A taxi industry body urged Tada, a ride-hailing service, to terminate its business on Tuesday, a day after prosecutors indicted the company’s heads on charges of running a transportation business without a license and declared the app-based business illegal. 

In a joint press conference with independent lawmaker Kim Kyung-jin, Kook Chul-hee, chief of the Seoul Private Taxi Association, said “the prosecution’s indictment brought the illegality of these taxi operators to light.”

Kim and Kook also asked the government to suspend Tada’s operation, which it claims has made a mockery of law and order, saying it would be dereliction of the government’s duty if it did not do so.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.