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January 26, 2007
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| After a security camera captured police officers wielding baseball bats and billiard cue sticks in a brawl at an adult game room, Seoul prosecutors requested arrest warrants for two police officers late Wednesday on charges of using excessive force. The incident took place on Jan. 6, the Seoul Southern District Public Prosecutors Office said. Prosecutors said five Yeongdeungpo police officers went to a game room in Anyang, Gyeonggi province. They were responding to reports that four customers who went there to exchange gift certificates for money were being held by the owner and employees of the game room because they believed the certificates were fake, police said. The owner and six employees, using wooden sticks, struggled with the officers, who wielded the bats and cue sticks, for about 10 minutes, police said. During the clash, three employees fled. Four officers and the other four employees were injured. A 31-year-old police officer suffered a broken rib. After being arrested, the owner released a video clip captured by a security camera. He asserted that the police officers used excessive force and filed criminal complaints against the five police officers. “The employees used to be gang members and professional wrestlers. Do the prosecutors want us to sit by helplessly as they hit them?” said a police officer who did not want to be named. Another said prosecutors are retaliating for a different investigation. Police have been investigating two officials at the prosecutors’ office on suspicion of receiving bribes from suspects who allegedly forged passports. “After reviewing clips captured by the security camera, we concluded that the officers kept hitting the employees after they surrendered,” said a prosecution official who declined to be named. Earlier on Jan. 8, amid criticism over violent police tactics, Lee Taek-soon, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, said, “Several police officers were too passionate about cracking down on adult game rooms. We will thoroughly inspect the case because the officers used unlawful weapons, such as baseball bats.” By Kwon Ho JoongAng Ilbo [soejung@joongang.co.kr] |
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