A man under interrogation at a police station for violence stabbed a woman witness sitting next to him, police said Sunday. The woman died in an ambulance on route to hospital from blood loss.
According to Gyeongsan police, the man identified as Kim, 48, was taken to a police station at 1 p.m. for assaulting others at a bar. The bar's owner ㅡ the victim, a woman aged 52 ㅡ was also present at the station as a witness.
Officers at the scene said Kim abruptly pulled out a knife from his backpack and stabbed her in the chest and sides several times. A police officer shot him twice.
The man was injured in his right calf and taken to hospital. ``He is not in critical condition,'' police said.
``It was too sudden to block him,'' an officer said. ``The man will be indicted on homicide charges.''
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Witness protection fail.
This news out of Gyeongsan is an example of both "witness protection fail" and "search the suspect for weapons fail":
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11 comments:
A woman witness died because the police wouldn't use lethal force? That's ridiculous, and the police should be brought up on charges for failing to protect her.
Wow, shot twice and he was injured only in the calf? Maybe the police need to spend some time in on the firing range. Jeez.
This is a classic example why noone even considers calling the police here. They are totally incompetent. Utterly unbelievable.
Thats horrible. I thought the police station is safer than the streets.
No, Brent, a witness died because the police did not search the suspect for weapons. Nor did they keep her at a relatively safe distance from the person she was a witness against.
Even if the police had (at the VERY least) kept each one on opposite sides of the room, it would have been enough to stop the guy before his attack landed.
This is the same police department that "investigated" mike white's murder
This is also the city where a 22-year-old Vietnamese woman "committed suicide" but no investigation was done because her 46-year-old Korean master, I mean husband, had her body cremated right away.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2887411
I am sure the guy with the knife had a tough life, so it's ok.
why is the witness sitting RIGHT NEXT to the violent suspect? shouldn't he be somewhere locked, or at least handcuffed or something?
A lot of police stations and their procedures were designed when Korea was in a sort of "Mayberry" period where the level of violent crime was lower (or at least seemed lower. There is no space to separate all the people who come in for all the crimes now, and there is still too little sensitivity for victims of violent crimes, including sexual assault.
Putting victims, witnesses, etc., next to or close to arrestees and accused is not uncommon in many smaller police stations or large ones that are not adequately divided into appropriate space. If you watch Oasis, you can see where the woman thought to be raped is placed within view of the man accused of raping her. Sure, it's a movie, but it's a fairly accurate representation.
Some of the cops are really Mayberry-ish and seem unable to put themselves in the shoes of either the victim or the perpetrator. My then-fiancée called me in tears to come and pick her immediately because she was scared out of her wits to go home — she'd been hit in a crosswalk by a guy who had no license or insurance and was angry about the fines (and possible arrest) he was about to face. The cop in charge had kept the two of them next to each other as he initially questioned them about the accident, and he kept holding her ID card in such a way that the guy who hit her could easily see her address.
I don't have the highest regard for non-Korean cops either. I got involved in reporting on a fairly famous case that involved the CID, and a witness to the crime was essentially marched in front of a possible perpetrator in an open parking lot and asked if this was the guy she'd seen (and therefore the likely murderer). If this guy hadn't gotten a good look at her before, he had now. She said no and promptly left the country.
In summary: American cops will kill you. Korean cops will let someone else kill you.
This is definately the city I live in. What the crap!?! Thank you for posting this stuff up and creating a space for dialogue.
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