[Official] KBO imposes severe penalty on 'drunk driving' coach... Why was the punishment aggravated by '+1 year'?

*This content was translated by AI.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has imposed a severe penalty, including aggravated punishment, on former Kiwoom Heroes playing coach Lee Yong-gyu (41), who caused an accident while driving under the influence.

On the 25th, the KBO announced, "We held a disciplinary committee meeting regarding former Kiwoom playing coach Lee Yong-gyu today."

The KBO further explained, "Former coach Lee Yong-gyu caused property and personal damage through drunk driving and a collision accident while his driver's license was already suspended, bringing social scandal."

It continued, "The KBO Disciplinary Committee, based on Article 151 of the KBO Constitution regarding 'conduct damaging dignity,' decided on a two-year suspension: one year for the offense, plus an additional one-year aggravated penalty due to his position as a coach who should set an example for players yet caused social scandal, and because the accident resulted in personal injuries."

This penalty will take effect starting on the 26th.

According to the Kiwoom team, on the morning of the 12th, former coach Lee Yong-gyu, while driving in a heavily intoxicated state to return to his home in Guri-si, collided successively with a U-turn vehicle in the opposite lane and a patrol car parked by the roadside.

As a result of the accident, the driver of the U-turn vehicle and a police officer riding in the patrol car were injured. At the scene, a breathalyzer test revealed that Lee Yong-gyu had a blood alcohol concentration level equivalent to license revocation.

Immediately after the accident, former coach Lee Yong-gyu voluntarily reported the incident to the Kiwoom team. The Kiwoom team then promptly dispatched staff to the scene to assess the situation and immediately reported it to the KBO Clean Baseball Center.

As a result, former coach Lee Yong-gyu was forced to remove his uniform in disgrace.

At the time, the Kiwoom team issued an official apology statement. The Kiwoom team stated, "The coach has admitted his fault without any excuse, deeply reflected on his actions, and expressed his intention to conclude his professional career while fully accepting responsibility, which the team has accepted."

It further stated, "Lee Yong-gyu intends to diligently cooperate with the investigation by relevant institutional investors and has conveyed to the team his sincere apology to the victims injured in this accident and his commitment to assume all responsibilities for their recovery."

The Kiwoom team also bowed its head. Through an apology statement issued in the name of Wi Jae-min (CEO) director, the team emphasized, "We recognize drunk driving as a serious illegal act that cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. In particular, we are taking this incident, where a traffic accident occurred due to drunk driving, very seriously, and we sincerely apologize to fans and league officials for failing to prevent a drunk driving accident by one of our members in advance."

The team further added, "Most importantly, we sincerely hope for the quick recovery of those who were injured. To prevent recurrence, we will strengthen education and management for all members and do our utmost to ensure such incidents do not happen again."

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*This content was translated by AI.