Gimpo Daycare Rice Cake Choking Incident: Teacher and Director Sent to Prosecutors

In a tragic incident where a 2-year-old child choked to death while eating rice cake at a daycare in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, the homeroom teacher and the director have been sent to prosecutors.

On the 11th, the Gimpo police officially announced that they had forwarded the case of daycare teacher A and director B, who had been booked without detention on charges of negligent homicide in the course of their duties, to the prosecutors.

Earlier, teacher A is accused of causing child C to choke on rice cake while providing snacks at the daycare at around 3:10 PM on May 22. Director B is also accused of neglecting proper supervision and management of staff as the operator of the daycare, leading to the child's death.

Responsibility for the child's death

Circumstances of the incident and autopsy results

According to police investigations, it was confirmed that A cut the rice cake and distributed it to several children, including C, just before the incident occurred.

When an emergency situation arose during snack time, the daycare implemented the Heimlich maneuver immediately; however, unfortunately, C was transported to the hospital unconscious and ultimately passed away.

The National Institute of Scientific Investigation reported to the police that after performing an autopsy on C's body, it was concluded that "the cause of death is presumed to be choking due to airway obstruction." This means that the rice cake blocked the airway, leading to an inability to breathe, reminding us once again of the risks associated with safety incidents involving young children.

Based on a comprehensive review of the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage from the scene and related evidence, the police determined that while emergency measures were taken, A and B failed to exercise sufficient duty of care when offering rice cake to a young child.

Insufficient duty of care in providing rice cake to a young child

A police official explained, "While the CCTV shows that emergency measures were taken, we conclude that A and B were negligent based on their failure to exercise duty of care while distributing rice cake to the baby."

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