Woman drove drunk, unlicensed and wrong-way, hitting teen — then denied being at the wheel

A woman in her 30s has been sent to prosecutors after driving drunk and without a license the wrong way down a road, striking a high school girl and leaving her seriously injured. The woman not only failed to help the victim after the crash but also tried to pin the blame on her passenger by claiming she had not been driving — a lie that CCTV footage quickly exposed.

Gyeonggi Gwangju Police Station recently forwarded the woman, identified only as A, to prosecutors on charges including aggravated injury through dangerous driving under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, according to JTBC's "Sageon Banjang" on Wednesday. Her male passenger, identified as B, was referred to prosecutors without detention on charges of aiding drunk driving.

The incident occurred around 2:12 a.m. on Aug. 4, when A was driving drunk on a road in Ssangnyeong-dong, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, and struck a pedestrian fence before hitting a passerby. The victim, a first-year high school girl, was on her way home after studying when the crash happened.

CCTV footage from the scene captured the student's body being thrown into the air by the impact.

After getting out of the car, A ran her hand through her hair, glanced at the injured girl and pointed at her, but did nothing to help. She then got back in the vehicle and moved it to a spot beside a nearby building, while B was seen removing car parts that had broken off in the crash — a cigarette in his mouth as he did so.

Police arrived after a passerby called for help, but both A and B pointed at each other as the driver. A was particularly vocal, shouting, "I wasn't the one driving."

Police reviewed the CCTV footage and confirmed that A had been behind the wheel.

Both occupants had been drinking at the time of the crash, and A's blood alcohol level was high enough to warrant license suspension, police said. A also had no driver's license and no auto insurance.

The road where the crash occurred is a one-way street, and A had been driving against traffic when she struck the student.

The victim was diagnosed with cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral edema, and regained consciousness only two days after the crash. She underwent surgery for facial bone fractures and other injuries, with surgical costs alone exceeding 10 million won ($7,310). She has also been receiving psychological counseling after developing symptoms of depression following the accident.

A made no contact with the victim's family after the crash, but later sought a meeting once she learned that CCTV footage of the incident existed.

"The perpetrator only asked to meet after finding out there was CCTV footage," the victim's family said, urging that A be severely punished.