A marathon participant from the Cheongju City Hall team in Chungbuk was ultimately pronounced dead after being struck by a truck. According to the Okcheon Police Station on the 30th, a man in his 20s, referred to as Mr. A, who was part of the Cheongju City Hall workplace sports team, passed away at around 1:30 AM that day while hospitalized in a Daejeon hospital.
Mr. A was hit by a 1-ton truck driven by an elderly man in his 80s (referred to as Mr. B) while running in a marathon on a road in Dongi-myeon, Okcheon County, around 10:08 AM on the 10th. Due to the accident, Mr. A sustained severe head injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The investigation revealed that Mr. B changed lanes into the second lane, which was being controlled by the marathon organizers, and hit Mr. A from behind. Mr. B reportedly told the police, “I was inexperienced in driving and intended to yield the lane to the following driver,” and added that he “failed to notice Mr. A because I was focusing on a traffic light 100 to 200 meters ahead.”
Following Mr. A’s death, the police have upgraded the charges against Mr. B from negligent injury under the Special Act on Traffic Accidents to negligent manslaughter.