Another Police Officer... Lured a Voluntary Suspect Outside, Then Made an 'Emergency Arrest'

[Financial News] An on-duty police officer has been indicted after luring a suspect who had voluntarily appeared at a police station outside, placing him under emergency arrest, and then falsifying investigative documents to keep him detained.
The Criminal Division 4 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, led by Chief Prosecutor Kim Byung-cheol, said on the 14th that it had indicted Officer A, 43, a police lieutenant, without detention on charges of abuse of authority in arrest, forgery and use of forged public electronic records, and violation of the Act on Promotion of Electronicization of Criminal Justice Procedure.
A is accused of taking suspect B, who was being investigated for aggravated theft, outside the police station after B arrived on May 22 to turn himself in, moving him to a nearby subway station, and arresting him even though he knew the requirements for an emergency arrest had not been met.
According to prosecutors, B had told A the day before the arrest who he was and promised to appear voluntarily. He also updated A in real time on his route to the police station and even notified him when he arrived.
A is also accused of falsely writing in the emergency arrest report that he had happened to find B on the street while conducting a field investigation and that there was no time to obtain an arrest warrant from a judge.
The emergency arrest report was submitted as evidence for the court's detention warrant review, and B was detained on May 23 on the grounds that he might flee.
Investigators also found that A had misrepresented how cash stolen in the theft case was seized. B had spent part of the stolen cash at an arcade and left the rest as stored money. Although A received the stored money from the arcade owner after the arrest, he recorded in the investigative documents that it had been seized directly from B at the scene of the emergency arrest.
Prosecutors began investigating the case after B, on the day he was transferred to custody on May 28, described signs of an unlawful arrest during an interview with a human rights protection officer.
After supplementary investigations and other steps, prosecutors concluded that objective evidence, including witness statements, call records, and police station visit logs, matched B's account, and they immediately released him. They also indicted B without detention on the same day on charges of aggravated theft.
A prosecution official said, "Emergency arrests and emergency seizures are exceptional coercive measures that restrict the public's bodily freedom and property without a judge's warrant," adding, "We will thoroughly review transferred cases to prevent abuse of investigative powers and ensure strict compliance with due process."

psh@fnnews.com Park Seong-hyeon Reporter