A police officer from South Korea who was under investigation over the deadly Halloween crush in Seoul is dead.
The police officer, identified only by his surname Jeong, was in charge of intelligence affairs at the Yongsan district police station. This is the same group that oversees the area where the crowd crush took place, BBC reported.
The 55-year-old was a suspect in the investigation currently being done over the police response to the crush. About 156 people died on Oct. 29, mostly young people. The incident also left 196 injured.
Jeong was suspended on Wednesday, Nov. 9, in connection with the incident. He is being accused of allegedly covering up police failings.
The 55-year-old allegedly ordered colleagues to delete the intelligence report, something that was written ahead of Halloween. There were allegedly warnings ahead of the event of a possibility of a serious incident taking place.
According to local media, the police officer was found dead in an apparent suicide at around 12:45 p.m. local time at his home in northern Seoul on Friday, Nov. 11. As of this writing, police are still conducting an investigation surrounding Jeong’s death.
Multiple people died on Halloween in the nightlife district of Itaewon. It was the first time it was celebrated since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the charges that Jeong was facing included abuse of authority, destruction of evidence and professional negligence resulting in death.
It was also added that the 55-year-old sent mobile messages suggesting suicide to some colleagues a day before he was found dead.
Dispatchers allegedly received at least 11 emergency calls before the crush turned fatal. The first one arrived at around 6:34 p.m., four hours before the first deaths happened. Seoul police dispatched only a few officers in response to the reports.
A parliamentary probe has been ordered by lawmakers while families plan to file class action lawsuits to get compensation from the government.
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