SEOUL, Oct 17, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A South Korean court acquitted the former Seoul police chief and two officers Thursday of professional negligence over a deadly 2022 Halloween crowd crush that killed more than 150 people, an official told AFP.

The court ruled that Kim Kwang-ho -- the highest-ranking police official indicted over the crush -- could not be legally held accountable for the tragedy, citing a lack of evidence to establish that his neglect of duty led to the accident.

"It is hard to establish beyond reasonable doubt, with the evidence put forward by the prosecution, that the defendants committed professional negligence," the Seoul Western District Court ruled, Yonhap reported.

Two other police officers were acquitted alongside him on the same charges.

As the verdict was read out, shouts of protest erupted from the families of the victims in the courtroom asking: "How was it not a man-made disaster?" Yonhap reported.

The court acknowledged that the number of casualties could have been reduced had "even a small police force in charge of maintaining order in Itaewon" been dispatched on the night of the Halloween weekend.

"We cannot help but express not only disappointment but also deep regret, as it appears that the government's functions regarding social disasters did not work properly on the night of the crush," the verdict said.

Tens of thousands of people -- mostly in their 20s and 30s -- had been out on October 29, 2022, to enjoy the first post-pandemic Halloween celebrations in Seoul's popular Itaewon nightlife district.

But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, the weight of their bodies and a lack of effective crowd control leading to scores being crushed to death.

The prosecution had sought a five-year term for the ex-Seoul police chief, who denied any wrongdoing, telling the court in April: "Instead of seeking a scapegoat, real preventive measures should be carried out."

The Thursday ruling followed an earlier conviction of lower-level police officials, including a three-year sentence for a former police chief of Yongsan -- the district overseeing Itaewon.

In contrast to the acquittal, the same court found the former Yongsan police chief Lee Im-jae guilty of failing to prevent the "foreseeable" disaster.

"It was foreseeable that there would be a large crowd of people in the sloped alley of Itaewon that would lead to serious danger to life and physical safety on the Halloween weekend in 2022," the court said in the guilty verdict on September 30.