By Kim Se-jeong
The prosecution indicted four police officers Tuesday on charges of negligent homicide in the death of farmer Baek Nam-ki.
Spray from a water cannon knocked Baek down during an anti-government protest in downtown Seoul, Nov. 18, 2015. He died Sept. 25, 2016 at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) after remaining unconscious for almost 10 months.
“Baek’s death was a result of abusive power exerted by the authorities who failed to follow the water cannon manual and supervise the officers on duty,” said prosecutor Lee Dong-jin. “What’s left to us now is to bring them to justice for abusing their power and killing an innocent citizen.”
The decision comes almost two years after Baek’s family and a group of farmers requested a criminal investigation into seven police officers.
Prosecutors did not indict Kang Shin-myung, then-chief of the National Police Agency, saying he had “nothing to do with water cannon truck operations on the day of the incident.”
The four indicted officers include two who fired the water cannon at Baek and their two supervisors.
The prosecution said the water cannon’s pumping cycle was operating at 28,000 rpm, higher than instructed, because a pressure control device was broken.
The prosecution added the police officers fired the water cannon for 30 seconds altogether — 13 seconds at Baek’s head while he was standing and 17 seconds after his collapse. The manual states the water cannon should not be aimed above a person’s chest.
Prosecutor also said shock from the water cannon was the cause of his death. The controversy over this rattled the country for months last year, pushing thousands of people to the street and dividing the medical community in two.
Baek’s doctor, Paek Sun-ha, concluded cardiopulmonary arrest from natural causes as the cause of death. While the doctor was adamant on his diagnosis, critics condemned him for making a “political decision” to protect former President Park Geun-hye’s government.
On June 15 this year, SNUH changed the cause of death to external injury from being hit by the water cannon.