Man charged with manslaughter in "exploding battery" case

In one of the more bizarre turns we've seen stories take, new information has come to light in the recent exploding battery death we reported on. It turns out that the LG battery which had initially been blamed for the "accident" wasn't the cause at all, rather, a co-worker of the victim has admitted to hitting the man with a 15-ton hydraulic rig while driving in reverse, and has been charged with manslaughter. Kwon Young-sup, who had originally reported that he had heard an explosion and discovered the man's body, has now told police that he invented the story as a cover-up for an accident. So, you can now return to placing calls on your LG without fear -- but watch your back on the job-site.

[Via Sky News, thanks Barry T, image courtesy of Yonhap News]

[oshean @ Nov 30th 2007 9:03AM]

Life's Bad for Kwon Young-sup.

[Satish @ Nov 30th 2007 9:38AM]

Nice quote..

[Michael Emmons @ Nov 30th 2007 9:04AM]

So...did the battery explode because it was run over? Or are the two incidents not related?

[Blackstar @ Nov 30th 2007 10:14AM]

Yes, you see the phone battery he had was only rated for being hit with an 8-ton hydraulic rig. He should have upgraded to the 20-ton hydraulic rig battery if he knew he was going to be killed by his co-worker that day.

[mrblack @ Nov 30th 2007 1:30PM]

^ Thats the funniest comment I've read on engadget in a while. lol awesome

[Jon @ Nov 30th 2007 9:05AM]

LG ought to join the lawsuit for his libellous comments, though personally I think only an idiot would have believed the story in the first place.

[Nick @ Nov 30th 2007 10:52AM]

so does that mean that you dont believe in the spontaneously combusting sony batteries?

[Marc @ Nov 30th 2007 9:09AM]

A clear case of assault-and-battery m'lud.

[KR @ Nov 30th 2007 9:12AM]

::rimshot::

[Khris @ Nov 30th 2007 9:13AM]

BOOOOOOOO! :p

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 30th 2007 10:15AM]

The HOOK!

THE HOOK!

(chuckles)

[Flashpoint @ Nov 30th 2007 9:16AM]

The battery didn't kill him.

IT WAS THE "UNASSISTED FALL"

[artimus @ Dec 1st 2007 6:13PM]

Sorry man...

You get hit by a 20-ton ANYTHING, and that's an ASSISTED FALL.

[kevjohn @ Nov 30th 2007 9:23AM]

Wait a minute.... So they couldn't tell the difference between a guy who got blasted by a tiny cell phone battery exploding, and a guy who got hit with a 15-ton hydraulic rig??

They must not watch CSI in S. Korea.

[bugmat @ Nov 30th 2007 10:46AM]

Hmmm...that might explain why the investigation was still open, and they got their man?! Unfortunately the events of the real world doesn't run in one-hour segments!

[psxp @ Nov 30th 2007 12:41PM]

>They must not watch CSI in S. Korea.

no, they just got QUINCY M.D

[MEAT! @ Nov 30th 2007 11:11AM]

Damn my comment not going through.

Actually, the previous Engadget article quoted a medical examiner saying it was, "difficult to conclude that the damage of internal organs was caused by [the explosion]."

Also, some science board also involved in the investigation said that "the injuries were too substantial to have been caused by a battery explosion."

That was less than 24 hours later, so, sorry, it still seems like medical professionals are good at their jobs.

[teej @ Nov 30th 2007 4:51PM]

so, this could go on A&E's 48 Hours??

[Brian @ Nov 30th 2007 9:31AM]

Hmmm you think an autopsy showing crushed bones might be a little bit difficult to explain coming from a phone.

[Brad @ Nov 30th 2007 4:04PM]

The assertion that the death was caused by an exploding phone was released when the police showed up. No medical exam had occurred yet, they were just releasing the statement of the only witness. A day's worth of police and medical work showed the guy was lying, and is now in custody.

Man, you people really need to learn to think a little harder.

[Brian @ Nov 30th 2007 6:01PM]

I'm merely pointing out that if the guy who killed him tried to hide it by making it look like it was because the phone exploded, would have a hard time explaining how an autopsy that would show crushed bones.

[Twitchy @ Nov 30th 2007 9:38AM]

Man am I glad that I'm the one sitting in the fork-hoist at work.

[chipsdeluxe @ Nov 30th 2007 10:00AM]

Your fork-hoist has an internet connection?

[ethana2 @ Nov 30th 2007 12:50PM]

Get off engadget and pay attention where you're driving that pallet of--AAAAAHH *crunch*

[debugy2k @ Nov 30th 2007 10:00AM]

Sounds like a cover-up to me...LG paying off someone somewhere to say something that has nothing to do with their phone...lol...I'm sure LG won't be that different with all the Samsung bribes out there

[Jesse S @ Nov 30th 2007 11:25AM]

You're an idiot.

[tekdroid @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:22AM]

quite possible, debugy2k. The bad PR that this is doing to LG (or did) needs to be stopped or reversed quickly, so LG loose change can be used to change the story quite easily. Nobody outside those involved knows the truth, really.

[Jamie @ Nov 30th 2007 10:52AM]

"Man charged with manslaughter in "exploding battery" case"

Sideshow Bob?

[LC @ Nov 30th 2007 10:52AM]

Cell phone batteries don't kill people. 15-ton hydraulic rigs while driving in reverse kill people.

[ethana2 @ Nov 30th 2007 12:55PM]

How long 'till we hear he was talking on a cell while driving the rig?

That had to be an interesting conversation.
'Oh, hold on-- I just heard a loud crunching noise... can I call you back?'

[wetworker @ Nov 30th 2007 11:15AM]

This is what's called "going spam"

[Jack @ Nov 30th 2007 11:33AM]

Manslaughter is not funny, would u go around with ur one liners if ur own dad was killed this way?

Stupid Humans

[nullstate @ Nov 30th 2007 11:49AM]

You can't spell 'manslaughter' without 'laughter'.

[blade417 @ Nov 30th 2007 11:57AM]

you just called yourself stupid....

you fail

unless your martian or a reptile or something.

[mrdelayer @ Nov 30th 2007 12:33PM]

Yeah.

Yeah, I probably would.

Then again, I'd probably go around with my one-liners if you died like that, too.

[Zach @ Nov 30th 2007 2:24PM]

This reminds me of a funny story. My dad passed away from a funny heart attack my junior year of high school. In Sociology 12th grade we had this student teacher who was just always a nervous wreck.

One day when we were taking a test my friend, who was auditing the class for no reason, wrote a whole essay dedicated to why he should become my honorary new father. In the end, he accepted and we got him a Burger King hat and everything. It wasn't a one-liner, but man we had some good jokes about it.

So yea, I might appreciate a good one liner about my dead dad.

[PDubNYC @ Nov 30th 2007 11:55AM]

Now maybe all of you putzes who were all over LG the other day with your snide, all knowing comments regarding the company's "Virtually Impossible" comment will learn to STFU every so often and wait until you get some facts.

You read a few tech blogs, maybe have a pimped out Linux box you built yourself from a pile of sand, and you just know everything, don't you?

Nothing special about this LG story, it happens ALL the time here. There are, of course, some very interesting and thoughtful posts by people, but seems like this place gets more like Digg everyday.

Sorry, someone pissed in my cornflakes. But I stand by my comment. Alright, flame on

[Darkest Daze @ Nov 30th 2007 7:10PM]

I don't know how many times I have to go over this with people, but urinals are not the best place to store your cornflakes.

[MasterCKO @ Nov 30th 2007 1:52PM]

this is like an episode of Law and Order or CSI or something...

[jungyup lee @ Nov 30th 2007 6:13PM]

This news turned out to be FALSE. A guy ran by his colleague while he was operating heavy machinery and LIED because he was afraid of being caught.

[Adam Gibson @ Nov 30th 2007 6:28PM]

Or is this a cover up by the cellphone manufacturers to make sure this phone malfunction does not cause people to stop buying and using cellphones ;)

[Wwhat @ Dec 1st 2007 9:40AM]

I wonder if he had the 'truck-driving-backwards' beep as a ringtone.

Incidentally, don't they have flaggers in korea?