Actor Choi Min-soo Indicted in Road-Rage Accident

Published on 2019/02/01 | Source

Actor Choi Min-soo is to go on trial for causing a road-rage accident.

The Seoul Nambu District Prosecutors' Office indicted Choi on charges of destruction of property and verbal assault, a spokesman said Thursday. According to prosecutors, Choi picked a quarrel with another driver on a five-lane road in the financial district of Yeouido around 1 p.m. on Sept. 17 last year.

He said that the other driver, who was running ahead of his car, had blocked his way by straddling two lanes. Choi overtook the car and stopped abruptly, which resulted in a fender-bender.

The other driver filed a criminal complaint against Choi, saying the actor deliberately caused the accident and the repairs cost him a lot of money.

Choi is being charged with verbal assault during the ensuing argument. "Several witnesses testify that Choi swore at the other driver", a prosecutor said. Police sent the case to the prosecutors' office last October.

Choi claims he was provoked. "The driver recklessly cut into my lane without signaling, and I got angry as he threatened to make me quit showbusiness", he said.

Choi is no stranger to bouts of fury. In 2008, he was arrested for assaulting a man in his 70s in Itaewon, Seoul but was acquitted. In 2015 he had to quit a TV program after assaulting the producer.