Case grows against man smashing his Mercedes
A heavily damaged Mercedes-Benz sedan is parked in front of a dealership in Gwangju, Sunday. The man who leased the car destroyed and left it there to protest an engine malfunction. / Korea Times
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Public attention is growing over how the case of a man damaging his leased Mercedes-Benz sedan in protest of the car’s engine failure will go.
While police are investigating the case, although the dealership dropped its earlier charge against the man, people are paying attention about whether he will face legal punishment or whether he and the dealership will find a compromise.
The case made headlines here after the man, Yu, 33, heavily damaged his 290 million won Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG sedan with a bat and a golf club in front of the dealership office in Gwangju on Friday, as he was angry at the dealership’s indifferent attitude about the car’s continued engine failure. The scene was filmed and the footage was spread online.
He also parked the damaged car in front of the dealership, and the dealership then filed a complaint with the police against Yu for disrupting business.
The dealership, though, dropped the complaint Wednesday, and Mercedes-Benz Korea said that it wanted to work out a “smooth solution” in the case, saying the complaint was to move the car away from the sidewalk in front of the office for the convenience of other customers.
Despite the dealership dropping the charges, police said they would continue the investigation because the probe for a business interference allegation is made regardless of the accuser’s wishes.
If the charges are proved in court, Yu may face up to five years in jail or 15 million won in fines.
“We plan to refer the case to the prosecution. But as the dealership dropped the complaint, the punishment may be light,” an officer at Gwangju Seobu Police Station said.
As the vehicle is owned by a leasing company, not by Yu, police considered accusing him of property damage. But the leasing company said it did not want Yu to be punished, saying the car will belong to him as long as he pays all the installments.
Yu had demanded an exchange for a new vehicle or a full refund. The dealership and the automaker say they are looking into the case.
In a statement released Monday, Mercedes-Benz Korea said, “We found that Yu had customized some of the vehicle’s parts during the second maintenance, so we asked him to restore the vehicle as it was so we could thoroughly find out the cause of the engine failure, but he did not cooperate.”
Merceds-Benz Korea said it has been trying to find a solution.
Officials at the company were not available for a comment about whether the firm will exchange the car for a new vehicle.
According to Yu, since he began leasing the car in March, it stopped running on three different occasions due to engine malfunction. He claimed that after this occurred twice, the dealership promised that it would exchange the car with a new one if the same thing happened again. But the engine stalled again earlier this month, with Yu’s pregnant wife and five-year-old son on board, almost causing an accident.
He demanded an exchange or refund but workers at the dealership said they could not guarantee this until their boss returned from a business trip, according to Yu. After about two hours of scuffling, Yu damaged the car.
“The Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG was my dream car since I was little,” Yu told a local daily. “I worked hard for 15 years to buy this car, but the car crushed my dream and almost killed my family. Now, the company is completely ignoring the situation.”
He said that he would pay off the installments to the leasing company, whatever it takes. “But now I just feel good that I damaged this deadly vehicle.”