Brian in Jeollanamdo recently posted about a man arrested for killing a boy with an airgun after hitting him in a car accident. In offering a routine confession to the police, the accused explained that he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. The story has been updated at the Chosun Ilbo, which reports that man and the boy were seen on CCTV walking into a local hospital. The boy’s head was cut, but he walked without assistance and didn’t appear to be seriously hurt. The man did not appear to be intoxicated. In a statement to the police, the accused murderer said that he decided to kill the boy as they left the hospital. No reason was given in the news account. Witnesses to the accident testifed to the police that after being hit in a crosswalk, the boy got up, holding his head and crying, and headed for a nearby store. The man chased after him and put him in the backseat of the car and then drove to the hospital.
A Bizarre Killing
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I cant imagine what the mother and father of the child is going theough right now.
I would be curious if the police / hospital checked for sexual assult. Something just smells fishy here….
There are so many unanswered questions. Did the man claim to be a relative? If so, why didn’t the boy tell the truth? If not, why didn’t the hospital contact the parents? If the man planned on attacking and murdering the boy, why take him to the hospital? Since the injuries weren’t severe enough to warrant large medical expenses and since the boy had already seen a doctor, why kill him? The details as provided in the story don’t make sense. Judging by the number of related stories and continued development, more details will probably emerge.
While teaching in university, I knew a student paralyzed from deliberate injuries sustained in a hit-and-run. A man hit him accidentally and scared of paying medical bills, ran him over again to try to kill him.
That’s a pretty perverse incentive structure if killing someone is cheaper than compensating them for injury. It’s not as if Korean medical bills approach the level in the States either. Don’t you have to pay compensation to the family of the person you kill in Korea?
dokdoforever – i think the guy was trying to kill the boy so that he can hide it and get away with everything.
This was in the Korean news. The man who was an interior renovator, had suspended licenses twice for drunk driving. He was almost about to reinstate his license before this accident (which I presume was caused by drunk driving). He confessed to the police that he needed this license to make a living. When he took the boy to the hospital, the doctors told him the boy needed an MRI done in a bigger hospital. That’s when the man changed his mind after he rationalized he couldn’t take a chance getting caught for the third time and be suspended of his license. So he decided to kill the boy after driving the boy to a remote location, despite the boy’s pleading for his life.
So there’s your answers. He did it to save his license.
This story makes me sick. What I can’t help wondering is why the employees at the first hospital would allow the psycho to cart off to another hospital. I can’t imagine how guilty I’d feel if I’d been the one to send them on their way. What a travesty.
Thanks for the update, cm. I’m shocked that the hospital did not contact the parents. Based on Brendon’s past comments about legal culpability for negligence, I’m guessing the hospital can’t be sued for letting the boy walk out with the man who hit him. Incredible.
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