Warrant Hearing Today for Truck Crash Driver; 3-Day Joint Memorial Altar Opens

[Anchor]

A warrant hearing will be held today, September 21, for the driver in his 60s who drove a vehicle into a crowd at a sharing market event in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. It has been learned that the mother and middle school son who lost their lives in the accident had consistently volunteered for several years, adding to the sorrow.

Reporter Kwon Min-kyu has the story.

[Reporter]

A 1-ton truck plowed into a second-hand flea market held in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, the day before yesterday.

All seven people who were killed or injured at the scene were volunteers who had dedicated their time and effort to help their neighbors.

In particular, the mother in her 40s and her teenage middle school son who died had reportedly participated steadily in sharing events hosted by Anseong for several years.

[Park Hee-sung / Vice Chairman, Anseong Council for Sustainable Development: They were a family that consistently volunteered as a unit. The youngest child and the husband were also there, and they barely managed to dodge it, and everyone was performing CPR right there...]

Acquaintances and school friends have continued to visit the mortuary for the two victims, deepening the grief.

Anseong held an emergency meeting and decided to support the victims' funerals and professional psychological counseling.

In addition, a joint memorial altar will be operated for three days starting today to mourn the victims alongside citizens.

The prosecution has requested an arrest warrant for driver A, in his 60s, who caused the truck crash.

Driver A is a fixed-term worker at the Anseong City Hall and reportedly caused the accident while attempting to park a city-owned truck nearby to promote the event on the day of the accident.

[Bae Byeong-hwa / Accident Witness: (When I asked the driver) how the car ended up like that, (he said) he didn't know. Whether he stepped on the accelerator pedal or what happened, he was completely out of it...]

It is understood that driver A initially claimed during police questioning that he "tried to step on the brake but stepped on the accelerator pedal instead," but later changed his statement to claim that "the vehicle suddenly unintendedly accelerated."

Police plan to commission the National Forensic Service to conduct a detailed appraisal of the vehicle to determine whether sudden unintended acceleration occurred.

(Video Editing: Lim Yeojin, Design: Lee Jong-jung, Footage Provided by: Anseong City and Viewer Song Younghoon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.