Drunk-driving hit-and-run kills cyclist; man in his 70s with prior fatal crash sentenced to 4 years

A man in his 70s with a prior record of causing a fatal traffic accident has been sentenced to prison after striking and killing a cyclist while driving drunk and fleeing the scene.

Judge Seok Dong-woo of the Changwon District Court's Criminal Division 4 sentenced the man, identified only as A, to four years in prison on charges including aggravated hit-and-run resulting in death and unlicensed driving under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Specific Crimes, according to legal sources Friday.

A was indicted on charges of driving drunk on a road in Uichang-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, at around 7:30 p.m. on April 9 last year, striking a cyclist in his 70s identified as B and killing him before fleeing the scene.

A also faces charges of driving without a license on two separate occasions — in June and September of the same year — after his license had been revoked following the drunk-driving incident.

At the time of the accident, A asked a passerby to call for help but left without identifying himself once paramedics arrived.

Police initially did not apply hit-and-run charges, noting that A had remained at the scene until paramedics arrived, and referred the case to prosecutors only on charges of causing death under the Act on Special Cases Concerning Traffic Accidents.

During their investigation, however, prosecutors found evidence that A had acted as though he were not the driver in order to conceal the fact that he had been drinking, and added charges of hit-and-run resulting in death and unlicensed driving before indicting him.

The court noted that A had previously been fined in 2019 for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning Traffic Accidents by causing a death, and said it had taken into account the grief and suffering of B's bereaved family, who had petitioned for a severe sentence.

However, the court also cited mitigating factors, saying it had considered that A acknowledged most of the charges and showed remorse, and that after the accident he parked his vehicle at his residence before returning to the scene and telling police he had caused the crash.