(Herald DB)
(Herald DB)

South Korean police officers are under fire for not moving out of the way of an ambulance that was carrying an injured pregnant woman, who later died.

Dashcam footage from a Busan patrol car revealed Wednesday shows an ambulance with its siren blaring pulling up behind it at around 9 p.m. on Oct. 30. The patrol car remained stationary while a bus in the next lane moved out of the way to make room for the ambulance.

It was revealed that the ambulance was carrying an injured woman who had been severely injured in a car accident. She was taken to a hospital for medical treatment, but neither she nor the fetus survived.

Busan police said there was not enough time or space to move out of the way, and the bus had already made a route for the ambulance by the time the officers became aware of the situation.

"The left side of the patrol car was blocked by a median barrier and the right side by a large bus, and the cars turning left were blocking the front. If the car had moved, it would've made it even more difficult for the ambulance," police were quoted as saying, saying there were just two to three seconds to respond.

The minutelong footage shows it taking about five seconds from the moment the approaching ambulance's flickering emergency lights can be seen to the moment it pulled up behind the police car, and that there was oncoming traffic in the intersection. It took about two seconds from the moment the ambulance stopped to when it moved over to the next lane.

The bus moved forward into the intersection despite oncoming traffic to make room, although there was relatively less room from where the patrol car was located. Emergency workers inside the ambulance also asked police to move via the loudspeaker.

There is no legal clause that stipulates punishment specifically for not moving out of the way of an ambulance, but Article 12 bans anyone from interfering with the transfer of emergency patients, even private ambulances such as in this particular incident.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com