MUAN — Questions are mounting over the handling of a police investigation into the death of a motorcyclist in Muan County, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, in June. The victim's family is demanding a reinvestigation, arguing that the inquiry was inadequate and that the van driver's possible fault was never properly examined.
According to reporting by Seoul Economic Daily, the family filed a criminal complaint against the van driver with the Mokpo branch of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office on the 14th of this month. The family also submitted a petition to the commissioner general of the National Police Agency requesting that the case be reopened.
The accident occurred at about 5:39 a.m. on June 26 at a three-way intersection in front of a village in Muan-eup, Muan County. The site was a single-lane road with no center line. Footage from a CCTV camera that has been made public reportedly shows the van attempting a left turn without signaling at the moment the motorcyclist was passing it.
After the crash, the van driver told police that the driver had pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, according to accounts of the driver's statement.
Police did not treat that as a factor in liability. They ultimately concluded that the motorcyclist, who died, bore 100% of the fault and closed the case without opening a formal investigation.
The family says it cannot accept that finding.
"My mother fell onto the road after contact with the vehicle, and the van then ran over her body and continued about 10 meters before striking a roadside tree and stopping," the family said. "If the driver had simply hit the brake at that moment, my mother would not have died."
The family raises two central objections: that the van attempted a left turn without using its turn signal, and that the driver pressed the accelerator rather than the brake after the contact. The family argues that both points must be reexamined in assessing the van driver's fault.
The family also questioned how the investigation was conducted. It said the results of an alcohol test on the van driver at the scene were never disclosed and that initial steps to preserve the scene, such as marking positions, were inadequate. The family also said dashcam footage from the van, which it considers key evidence, was not fully shared with them.
Muan police said they determined that the motorcyclist who died had no license and that the crash occurred as the motorcyclist was passing a vehicle ahead. Police also said they concluded the outcome would not have been different even if the van driver had not pressed the accelerator after the collision.
The family counters that the police view of the accident was tilted from the outset. It took particular issue with the fact that police used the word "collision" in describing the cause.
"This was not an ordinary rear-end crash in which a motorcycle struck the back of a van," the family said. "The possibility of contact arising during the vehicle's left turn should have been fully examined." Above all, the family asked whether police had settled on a version of events that matched the van driver's account, and is calling for a review of the entire initial investigation.
The issues in the case are clear.
Was the unlicensed motorcyclist's passing maneuver the main cause of the crash, or did the van driver also bear fault for turning left without signaling and for operating the accelerator after the impact? Whether the police took appropriate initial steps and secured evidence properly is also open to question.
The family is still asking a question.
"Why must my mother's death be written off as 100% the fault of the motorcyclist?"
The accident is over, but the family's questions are not.
