[Update] CCTV footage showing BTS’s Suga’s electric scooter DUI incident leads to renewed criticism, then further CCTV footage is revealed

While the police investigation into the DUI case of BTS member Suga is still ongoing, further details continue to emerge, this time via reported CCTV footage of his accident from Yonhap News. While CCTV footage of him allegedly riding his electric scooter next to the main road had been released before by JTBC, the one obtained by Yonhap shows him riding on the sidewalk, seemingly hitting something, and then falling over. It also depicts the police that were patrolling the area, and then the police backup that comes to pick him up.

While netizens had previously been skeptical about whether BIGHIT MUSIC and Suga were telling the truth about where the incident occurred in their initial statement (among other admitted inconsistencies), it was mostly speculation. However, now there’s increased criticism of both, as they’re saying this is another inconsistency based on it not being the location they claimed.

Like I said last time, it’s just hard to give them the benefit of the doubt when things they’ve said have been downplayed, and by their own admission at times.

Update

DongA Ilbo has said the JTBC’s CCTV footage was not Suga at all and has released another video of him falling over on a scooter. It also explains why that video looked like he was driving something like a moped, whereas the others show a smaller scooter. Their footage shows Suga at a similar time to the footage from Yonhap above, but closer and from a different angle.

TV CHOSUN

【映像単独】
BTSシュガーの飲酒運転動線確認···作業室から移動中に居住地の正門前で倒れる

TV朝鮮が飲酒状態で電動スクーターを運転した疑いで警察に立件されたBTSメンバーシュガーの動線が盛り込まれた閉鎖回路(CC)TV映像を単独で確保した。… pic.twitter.com/orBMgTRWob

— kx2mamaV ーType1 KTH (@v_kx2mama) August 14, 2024

The police also say he was indeed returning home when this happened.

According to police, SUGA’s movements that evening were as follows: around 9PM he had drinks with acquaintances at a restaurant in Hannam-dong, then he went to his private studio where he drank again, and then around 11PM he left the studio on the electric scooter to head to Nine One Hannam. SUGA was then found by police after he fell in front of the main gate of Nine One Hannam. The electric scooter SUGA was riding is a foldable model that cannot have its seat removed with a top speed of up to 30 km/h (18.64 mph) and a motor output of 1.2 kW. It’s reported to be classified as a “moped” under traffic laws, and SUGA is subject to criminal charges for drunk driving.

While obviously this is still not something you want to be caught doing and there will be legal stuff ongoing, it should help him that he wasn’t driving some borderline moped and that the accident itself wasn’t some kind of Kim Sae Rom type mess.