In this surveillance camera footage, Lee Im-jae, former head of Yongsan Police Station walks on the streets of Itaewon around 11:00 p.m., Oct. 29, heading to the scene of a massive crowd crush. Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

Lee Im-jae, the former head of Yongsan Police Station, has been charged with professional negligence resulting in deaths and injuries following allegations about his belated, botched response to the massive crowd crush that occurred in central Seoul's Itaewon, Oct. 29, according to an independent investigative team at the National Police Agency, Monday.

Lee was temporarily removed from his post, Nov. 2, three days after the disaster on Halloween weekend killed 156 people and injured nearly 200.

Lee Im-jae, former head of Yongsan Police Station / Korea Times file

Surveillance footage disclosed on Sunday shows Lee walking to the scene of the tragedy with his hands behind his back at around 11 p.m., while dozens of victims were lying on the ground receiving CPR following the fatal crowd accident which was first reported to police at around 10:15 p.m.

According to the police, Lee was initially notified about the dangerously dense crowds in Itaewon at around 9:30 p.m. while having dinner at a restaurant near Yongsan Police Station after overseeing a rally held near the presidential office that ended around 8:30 p.m.

He headed to Itaewon at around 9:47 p.m. but didn't arrive on the scene until around 11:05 p.m., some 50 minutes after the deadly incident began.

An internal police audit later found that Lee had insisted on traveling by car to the scene despite the heavy traffic in the area, which significantly delayed his arrival.