Four police officials, including a former Seoul police chief, were indicted Tuesday on charges of negligent homicide in the death of an activist farmer due to injuries caused by a police water cannon.
In November 2015, Baek Nam-ki fell unconscious after he was shot directly by a police water cannon during an anti-government rally. The farmer in his 60s was in a coma before he died of acute renal failure in September 2016.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office indicted Goo Eun-soo, then commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and Shin Yun-kyun, then chief of the 4th riot squad, without detention.
Two other police officers who operated the water cannon will also face trial without detention.
The prosecution said the police did not follow rules, which ban firing water cannons directly at a person above the chest. Baek was hit directly in his head with the high pressure jet.
It accused the police of neglecting their duty to control the use of force with the utmost caution given safety concerns.
The probe also revealed that a device that controls the water pressure was malfunctioning at that time, raising the possibility that it could have been fired at a pressure exceeding the legal limit.
Police had denied responsibility for his death, saying it followed every legal procedure.
The prosecution, however, did not file charges against then national police chief Kang Sin-myeong, saying he was not directly involved in the operation.
Baek's death stirred up a huge public uproar against the law enforcement's excessive use of force on protesters.
In June, the hospital that wrote Baek's death report overturned its previous conclusion and said his death was from an "external cause.” (Yonhap)