Court clears gym owner, trainer in bench press death

A court has ruled that a gym owner and a trainer bear no criminal responsibility for the death of a man crushed under a barbell while bench-pressing 70 kilograms.

Judge Kim Su-hong of the Busan District Court's Western Branch acquitted gym owner Jeong and trainer Kim, both charged with negligent homicide, on July 8.

The victim had been exercising alone on the gym's third floor around 1 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2024, when he lost control of a roughly 70-kilogram barbell and was pinned under it by the neck. He lay there for about 25 minutes before being found unconscious and died a week later.

Prosecutors indicted Jeong and Kim on charges of negligent homicide, arguing that under the Sports Facilities Act, facilities above a certain size are required to station a qualified sports instructor to ensure user safety — a requirement the gym had failed to meet. Prosecutors also contended that the defendants should have monitored users through closed-circuit television.

The court sided with the defendants. While acknowledging that the gym had not stationed a qualified instructor, the judge said it could not be concluded that an instructor's presence would have prevented the accident.

"Unlike swimming pools, where danger is ever-present, there is no basis for holding that trainers have a duty to periodically check via CCTV whether users have had an accident at a gym, which cannot be considered particularly high-risk," Judge Kim said.

The judge added that "given that asphyxiation lasting as little as about five minutes can be highly likely to result in death, it cannot be concluded that the victim would not have died even if the defendants had become aware of the situation."

Prosecutors appealed the ruling on July 13.