Critics apologize for denouncing driver who left child alone at bus stop

Video footage from a security camera at a stop for Bus 240 shows a child, 7, getting off near Konkuk University Station on Monday. / Captured from YTN

By Chyung Eun-ju

Sometimes things are not what they seem.

On Tuesday, people criticized the driver of a Seoul transit bus 240 who allegedly did not stop immediately when a mother realized her child had been left behind.

But after Seoul Metropolitan City on Wednesday released a closed-circuit video, critics retracted their criticism when they realized the incident had not been the driver’s fault.

“I was the first person who posted a complaint about the bus,” a complainant posted on the Seoul Bus Transporting website.

He is one of many who used the site to publicize the incident at a bus stop near Konkuk University Station in Gwangjin-gu.

Critics denounced the driver, who reportedly also yelled at the desperate woman.

“After the post went viral I read articles that said the driver was not responsible for the incident,” the complainant said.

“My heart is upset because I feel responsible for making the situation to grow bigger than necessary. I feel out of my mind because it looks like I lied.”

Another complainant explained that he criticized the driver after seeing the child getting off the bus and the woman screaming at the driver to stop.

The complainant said he had not realized that the driver could not stop immediately because the bus was in the middle of the road.

A woman who claimed to be the driver’s daughter said on the site on Wednesday that it was “an exaggeration to say that the mother was wailing,” and said her father “never curse at passengers.”

“The video confirms that the child got off the bus... The mother asked my father to stop after the bus had already moved on to a center-lane,” the daughter said.

Seoul city government officials viewed the video recorded inside the vehicle and confirmed that the driver was not at fault.

The footage showed that the rear exit door was open for 16 seconds before closing, and that the bus traveled about 10 meters to enter the center lane and then drove a further 20 seconds before arriving at the next stop.

“Based on the video, it appears that the bus driver only became aware of the situation after the bus changed lanes,” a Seoul city official said in a statement to the media.

“He seems to have decided it was safer to let the woman out at the next designated stop.”

Safety camera video footage from outside was released on a YTN broadcast on Wednesday. But the footage from inside was not released at the mother’s request.