Drunk driver allegedly hits, kills motorcyclist while traveling more than double the speed limit

A drunk driver speeding through a provincial road in South Chungcheong struck and killed a motorcyclist last week, police said Tuesday. Two young children were aboard the driver’s car at the time.

The photograph shows an SUV driven by a woman in her 30s after it struck a motorcycle on a two-lane, one-way road in Hongseong County, South Chungcheong, around 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 4, killing the motorcyclist. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A drunk driver speeding through a provincial road in South Chungcheong allegedly struck and killed a motorcyclist last week, police said Tuesday. Two young children were aboard the driver’s car at the time.

The crash occurred around 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 4 in Hongseong County, according to the Hongseong Police Precinct. An SUV driven by a woman in her 30s allegedly slammed into a motorcycle traveling ahead of her on a two-lane, one-way road in the town of Hongbuk-eup.

The motorcyclist, a man in his 30s, went into cardiac arrest and was taken to a hospital where he later died.

Police said the woman’s blood alcohol level measured 0.218 percent, nearly three times the threshold for license revocation in Korea. Investigators also found that she was driving more than 170 kilometers per hour (105.6 miles per hour) on a road with a speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour.

The man worked in delivery services and was heading home after finishing work with his girlfriend, police said. The man was riding his motorcycle in the first lane, while the girlfriend was driving a car in the second lane.

The girlfriend recounted the moments before the crash in an interview aired Monday on JTBC’s “Crime Chief.” She said she had just exchanged greetings with her boyfriend when a large vehicle suddenly appeared beside her.

“It was going so fast that it just disappeared,” she said. “When I got out of the car, my boyfriend was lying on the road behind my car.”

She said her boyfriend was conscious at first and told her, “Why is my body like this?” and “I can’t move.” She added that the woman driver then approached them, shouting insults and blaming the man for the crash.

“She said she didn’t run a red light, that she was only going 80 kilometers per hour, and that she wasn’t at fault,” the girlfriend said, recounting the incident. “She kept swearing and threatening us.” The girlfriend said it appeared that the woman did not even realize she had hit someone.

Police said two preschool-age children were inside the woman’s vehicle at the time of the crash.

A witness told police that while the woman was seated in the back of a patrol car, she began pounding on the door and shouting that her children were still in the vehicle.

“She kept yelling, ‘My kids are in the car. I need to take them,’” the witness said, adding that two young girls later climbed out of the back seat. “It was shocking. Driving drunk alone is bad enough, but she had children with her.”

Police arrested the woman at the scene and later placed her under formal arrest on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

The woman’s legal representatives have asked for leniency, citing the presence of her children. The man’s family has rejected any plea deal or settlement and is preparing a petition calling for the maximum punishment.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY JANG GU-SEUL [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]