A taxi driver was given two years in prison with three years’ probation for abandoning an inebriated passenger on a highway, eventually leading to the passenger’s death, Daegu High Court said Sunday.

The taxi was carrying the man from Andong in North Gyeongsang Province to Daegu -- roughly an hour and a half’s ride -- when the man who had gradually become incapable of clear communication failed to give his final desired destination to the driver. 

After a number of attempts at getting a proper response from the drunk passenger, the frustrated taxi driver left the intoxicated man on the highway near the tollgate on the southern side of Daegu, at around 3:40 a.m.

The drunk passenger, unable to find his way down from the highway, was hit by two cars in succession and died of brain damage.

The appeals court tried the taxi driver and determined, “Despite the duty to safely drive a passenger to his destination, the driver left him on a dangerous highway, which resulted in his death.”

The court, however, also acknowledged that the “victim appears to have voluntarily left the vehicle prior to reaching his destination. He wandered the highway for over 30 minutes before the accident, showing that he led himself to an adverse location.”

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)