Drunk driver who fell asleep at wheel, rammed patrol car gets 1 year in prison

A driver who fell asleep drunk at the wheel in broad daylight and then suddenly sped off when roused by a police officer — striking a patrol car — has been sentenced to prison.

Judge Byeon Seong-hwan of the Busan District Court's Criminal Division 4 sentenced a man in his 40s, identified only as A, to one year in prison on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act through drunk driving and unlicensed driving, as well as violations of the Automobile Management Act, Yonhap reported Thursday.

A was indicted on charges of driving a Lincoln sedan without a license while intoxicated for about 300 meters in Yeonje-gu, Busan, at around 11:52 a.m. on July 22, 2023.

His blood alcohol concentration at the time was 0.227 percent, well above the 0.08 percent threshold for license revocation.

A had fallen asleep in his car while waiting at a red light in the first lane of a road heading toward Yeonsan Intersection. When a police officer who had responded to a citizen's 112 emergency call knocked on the driver's side window to wake him, A suddenly drove off. His vehicle struck the bumper of a patrol car belonging to the Yeonil District Police Unit of the Yeonje Police Station, causing 1.06 million won ($791) in repair costs.

The vehicle A drove had had its registration administratively canceled in April 2019 and was not covered by mandatory automobile insurance.

A had previously been fined 1 million won in 2015 and 4 million won in 2019 for drunk driving.

After the incident, a separate drunk driving case from October 2023 resulted in a final sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years.

"When police arrived and woke the defendant, he suddenly accelerated and rammed the patrol car, damaging it — and given how congested the road was at the time, it could easily have led to a serious accident," Judge Byeon said. "Given that A has three prior convictions for drunk driving, a severe punishment is unavoidable."

Separately, another drunk driver crashes into restaurant, found asleep at home

In a separate incident the same day, another man in his 40s was arrested after allegedly driving drunk into a ground-floor restaurant and fleeing the scene on foot.

The Hanam Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said it had booked the suspect, identified only as B, without detention on charges of violating the Road Traffic Act through drunk driving and failing to take necessary measures after an accident.

B is accused of ramming his electric sedan into a restaurant on the ground floor of a building in Deokpung-dong, Hanam, at around 5:17 a.m. Thursday, then leaving the scene without taking any action.

No one was injured, as the restaurant had not yet opened for business at that early hour.

Officers who responded to the scene found B's wallet and identification inside the abandoned vehicle. Police then went to B's home and found B asleep there at around 6:17 a.m. — about an hour after the crash.

B's blood alcohol concentration at the time of apprehension was at the license-revocation level.

B sustained minor bruises in the crash and admitted at the scene to both the drunk driving and the accident.

yul@heraldcorp.com