Drunk woman who tried to bite her tongue dies after towel is placed in her mouth... Police officers and firefighters acquitted

According to the Changwon District Court on the 3rd, the 4th Criminal Division acquitted two police officers and two firefighters who had been indicted on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death.

The police officers were brought to trial on charges of causing the death of a 41-year-old woman, identified as Ms. A, by placing a towel in her mouth while attempting to prevent her from harming herself during her arrest at around 2:08 a.m. on August 26, 2022, on a street in Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do, on suspicion of obstructing the execution of official duties. Two firefighters who were 119 paramedics were also indicted for failing to take appropriate measures, including failing to remove the towel from Ms. A's mouth after arriving at the scene.

The incident began at around 1:58 a.m. that day, when a report was received that Ms. A was lying on the street. The responding police officers asked her to go home, but she refused and assaulted two officers, leading to her arrest as a flagrant offender. Even after handcuffs were placed on both her wrists, Ms. A continued to resist fiercely and demanded that the handcuffs be removed.

When her demand was not met, Ms. A said, "Then I guess I have to bite my tongue and die," and immediately attempted to harm herself by biting her tongue. The two police officers pushed a towel into her mouth several times to stop her. The two firefighters dispatched in response to the police's request for an ambulance began responding at the scene under the police officers' direction because Ms. A was considered capable of harming herself.

The firefighters removed the towel from Ms. A's mouth and provided emergency aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, from the point at which she was presumed to have gone into cardiac arrest. Ms. A was taken to a hospital but died of asphyxiation caused by airway obstruction at a hospital in Busan on September 17, 2022. The prosecution determined that the police officers' use of the towel and the firefighters' actions at the scene constituted occupational negligence and

brought all four defendants to trial.

All seven jurors who participated in the Korean Jury Trial found the defendants not guilty. The court also took the jury's verdict into account and acquitted all the police officers and firefighters. The court determined that the police officers had placed the towel in Ms. A's mouth as a way to quickly prevent her sudden self-harm while subduing her as she resisted violently.

The court also found it difficult to conclude that the firefighters had violated their duty of care in responding at the scene. In reaching its decision, the court considered that they checked Ms. A's pulse while looking for another object that could be placed in her mouth instead of the towel, and that medical experts had expressed the view that it would have been difficult to remove the towel immediately at the scene. The court concluded that, based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it was difficult to find that the defendants had foreseen the risk of death by asphyxiation or failed to take the necessary measures to prevent it.