SEOUL, Dec. 12 (BNA): Police are considering requesting an arrest warrant for a former chief of Yongsan Police Station early this week as part of their investigation into the botched response to the deadly crowd in Seoul’s Itaewon district, officials said. Monday said.
The move comes a week after a court rejected a request by a special police investigation team to issue an arrest warrant for Lee MJ, citing the need to guarantee the right to defend himself, Yonhap news agency reported.
Police said Lee was booked on charges of professional negligence and negligent manslaughter that resulted in the deaths. Lee is accused of arriving at the site late, about 50 minutes after the tragedy occurred.
Police said he is also accused of not taking adequate crowd control measures after earlier warnings of crowds during Halloween celebrations.
On Sunday, the investigation team questioned him again about the additional suspicion that he had ordered a subordinate to fabricate information in an internal report about the police response to the tragedy.
The investigation team suspects that the time Lee arrived at the scene was falsified in the report.
The investigation team is currently reviewing whether to file the new suspicion when he requests an arrest warrant for Lee again, the officials said, adding that the team plans to file an arrest warrant as early as this week.
Crowds killed 158 people in the Itaewon district of Yongsan Ward on October 29. Lee was relieved of duty as chief of Yongsan Police Station after the incident.
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