"Why Did You Wake Me Up When We Were Almost There?" Man in His 30s Brutally Assaults Taxi Driver on Expressway

[Financial News] A heavily intoxicated passenger in his 30s has been arrested after brutally assaulting a taxi driver in his 50s inside a taxi traveling at high speed on an expressway late at night. The passenger attacked the driver after the driver woke him and said they had almost reached the destination. It was a dangerous situation that could have led to further casualties, including a major chain-reaction crash.
On the 22nd, Hanam Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said it had booked a man in his 30s and was investigating him on suspicion of assaulting a driver under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.
According to police, the man allegedly punched B, a taxi driver in his 50s, repeatedly inside a taxi traveling toward Hanam near Seo Hanam Interchange on the Capital Region First Ring Expressway in Hanam City at around 3 a.m. on the 20th.
Police determined that the man had boarded the taxi while heavily intoxicated and fallen asleep in the back seat. He became enraged when B woke him, saying, "We're almost at the destination," and then assaulted the driver.
Police responding to B's report of the assault while the taxi was moving arrested the man at the scene. The injured driver, B, was punched while defenseless and suffered severe bruising in various parts of his body. He is reportedly hospitalized and receiving treatment.
Under the current Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, anyone who assaults or threatens the driver of a moving vehicle faces up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 20 million won. Assaulting a driver is classified as a serious crime because, beyond injuring the individual victim, it can cause a major traffic accident and threaten the lives of an unspecified number of people. Police plan to investigate the incident in greater detail, including the specific motive for the attack. 

[email protected] Jihyun Park Reporter