<Anchor>



As drinking parties increase at the end of the year, there are frequent incidents of drunken passengers hitting taxi drivers.

A few days ago, a 30-year-old assaulted a driver after getting out of a taxi without paying.



Reporter Park Ye-rin covered the story.



<Reporter>



On the 17th, an India in Mapo-gu, Seoul.



One man pushes another man against a wall and grabs his arm.



A passer-by tries to curl it up, but this time even stomps it with his foot after knocking it to the floor.



The perpetrator was a drunken taxi passenger who got off without paying the fare, and assaulted him when the taxi driver chased him and protested.



A taxi driver in his 70s who was helpless by a strong 30-year-old passenger is receiving hospital treatment with three fractured ribs.



[Damaged taxi driver: Because I grabbed the hem of my clothes (suddenly), I walked over, knocked it down, and stepped on the pelvis with my feet.

So he said he would die and just wrote evil.

(Assailant) He weighs 80 kg...

I can't even play games.]



Drunken passengers' deviance is nothing new.



Even in a running taxi, they make a fuss by asking to open the door,



[(This XX, open! Open!) It's dangerous.]



When the driver stops them, they start kicking and a dangerous situation arises.



At the end of the year, when there are many drunken passengers, taxi drivers are bound to be more nervous.



[Taxi driver: Taxi drivers are always very nervous when they see drunk people, and there are times when they have no choice but to seek help from the



police.] The number of driver assault cases reported to the police rose from 2,500 in 2019 to 4 in 2021. It has soared to about 1,200 cases, of which assault while intoxicated accounts for more than 70% each year.



At the end of this year, when various drinking parties are expected to increase with the lifting of social distancing, the police plan to deal more sternly than ever against so-called drunken assault cases that threaten the lives and safety of others.



(Video coverage: Lee Sang-hak, video editing: Lee Sang-min, CG: Jeon Yoo-geun)