Supreme Court Upholds Guilty Verdict for Resident and Manager in Fatal Parking Tower Fall

The Supreme Court has finalized a guilty verdict, recognizing the negligence of an officetel manager and a neighboring resident who operated a mechanical parking tower with a sleeping occupant still inside, leading to a fatal fall accident.

The Supreme Court's Second Division upheld the lower court's rulings, which fined the officetel manager in Busan and the resident, identified as A, 10 million won and 5 million won, respectively, for professional negligence resulting in death.

The accident occurred in January 2023 at a mechanical parking lot in an officetel in Busan.

At the time, a designated driver parked the vehicle on the parking elevator and left, leaving the victim in the back seat. The victim had fallen asleep inside the car.

Subsequently, resident A arrived at the parking lot, looked inside from outside the vehicle, told a security guard that there was no one inside, and pressed the vehicle parking button.

The security guard also permitted the parking operation without directly checking the scene.

The vehicle was raised to the 15th-floor level of the parking tower, after which the victim woke up, opened the door to get out, and fell to the ground, resulting in death.

Consequently, prosecutors indicted the security guard, the manager, and resident A on charges of professional negligence resulting in death for failing to fulfill their duties to verify safety.

The court of first instance sentenced the manager and the security guard to 10 months in prison with a two-year suspension of execution each, citing violations of safety management and supervision duties.

For resident A, the court handed down a guilty verdict based on the failure to actively verify by opening the door or attempting to make contact.

The security guard did not appeal the first-instance ruling, finalizing the sentence.

The second-instance court maintained the judgment that the negligence of both the manager and A was established, sentencing them to fines of 10 million won and 5 million won, respectively.

At the same time, the second-instance court stated, "It appears that the victim also bears some responsibility for the occurrence of the accident."

Regarding resident A, the court noted, "There are also circumstances showing that efforts were made to fulfill the duty of care to a certain extent."

(Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.