Yeongdeungpo Police Station [Yonhap]
Yeongdeungpo Police Station [Yonhap]

A serving police officer has been indicted on charges of unlawfully luring a theft suspect out of a police station — where the suspect had come to turn himself in — and then arresting him under the pretense of a chance street encounter.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office said Tuesday that Inspector A of the Yeongdeungpo Police Station was indicted without detention on charges including abuse of authority resulting in unlawful arrest and falsification of official documents. The case was handled by Criminal Division 4, headed by chief prosecutor Kim Byeong-cheol.

According to prosecutors, Inspector A contacted a suspect identified only as B, who had come to the Yeongdeungpo Police Station on May 22 to turn himself in on aggravated theft charges. A allegedly called B outside the building and then placed him under emergency arrest.

A subsequently filed an emergency arrest report falsely stating that he had "happened to spot the suspect on the street while conducting a canvassing investigation and arrested him on the spot," prosecutors said.

Investigators also found that A had fabricated seizure records and a warrant application for search and seizure, making it appear as though 800,000 won ($536) in cash stolen by B had been seized directly from the suspect — when in fact the money had already been recovered from an arcade in Yeongdeungpo-gu.

B, who was sent to prosecutors in custody on May 28, told them he had gone to the police station after promising to appear voluntarily, only to be called outside at A's request and suddenly arrested.

Prosecutors conducted a supplementary investigation and confirmed that witness statements, phone records and police station entry logs all corroborated B's account. They released B on June 1.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, investigators may carry out an emergency arrest when there is reasonable cause to suspect a person has committed a crime punishable by death, life imprisonment or a prison term of three years or more, and when there is a risk the suspect may destroy evidence or flee.

Prosecutors determined that the arrest was unlawful because B had come to the station voluntarily, leaving no grounds to suspect he would flee.

The Yeongdeungpo Police Station placed Inspector A on standby duty immediately upon learning of the indictment Tuesday and said it would also proceed with an internal affairs investigation.


bbo@heraldcorp.com