How to avoid punishment for drunk driving? Drink more, apparently

Suspected drunk drivers consume more alcohol to compromise test, score not guilty verdicts

Police officers operate a checkpoint for drunk driving at a tollgate in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Dec. 12, 2023. (Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency)

There have been multiple legal cases in South Korea in which an alleged drunk driver dodged punishment by drinking more alcohol after being caught by local authorities, touching off calls for legislative revisions to prevent such actions.

Local media outlets on Sunday reported that the Supreme Court recently cleared a 2019 drunk driving charges for a person who consumed a bottle of soju mixed with a soft drink, some 18 minutes after apparently being at fault in a car accident.

He claimed that he drank "because he was distraught by the accident." His blood alcohol content tested at 0.169 percent, far exceeding the 0.03 percent that warrants criminal punishment.

Police, suspecting drunk driving, had the driver drink the same amount about two months later, after which his blood alcohol level tested at 0.115 percent.

Officials took the aforementioned 0.169 and subtracted the above figure, indicating the person's BAC level at the time of the accident would have likely been about 0.054 percent -- above the punishable level. Based on the findings, the district court found him guilty of drunk driving.

The appellate court, however, overturned the ruling based on his new estimated BAC of 0.028 percent, which is based on the Widmark formula that reflects the passage of time to determine the BAC level at a certain point in time. South Korea's highest court upheld the ruling last month.

While the Supreme Court cleared the suspect of charges, it acknowledged that his post-accident drinking may have been to avoid punishment for drunk driving. "There have been several cases in which a person intentionally drinks more alcohol to avoid criminal punishment. ... It is not ideal to accept the results in which (the defendant) dodges a just criminal punishment through intentional drinking to destroy evidence of his crime," the court stated in its verdict.

South Korea’s Road Traffic Act stipulates that one must abide by a police officer's request for a drunk driving test, also stating that “drunk” status constitutes a BAC level of 0.03 percent or higher. But there are no legal measures that can be applied to prevent a suspect from sabotaging the BAC test by consuming more alcohol.

A similar case occurred in Wonju, Gangwon Province, in June of last year when a man in his 40s apparently caused a car accident, after which he walked into a nearby restaurant and drank half a bottle of soju before police arrived. He claimed that which he drank after the accident was the only alcohol he had consumed that day.

But in this case, the Widmark formula estimation of his BAC level at the time of the accident was 0.0452 percent, falling above the punishable line. The court accused him of attempting to obfuscate his drunk driving and sentenced him to six months in prison.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)