Camp Humphreys, the Army's sprawling garrison south of Seoul, as seen in 2018. (Marcus Fichtl/Stars and Stripes)
SEOUL, South Korea — A man was injured while driving a car that smashed into the barrier at a main access gate at Camp Humphreys over the weekend, a spokesman said Monday.
The man, identified only as a family member of somebody stationed at the Army garrison, was driving west through the Dongchang-ri gate at about 2 p.m. Saturday when the grab barriers deployed, garrison spokesman Steven Hoover said.
“The driver, the lone occupant of the car, hit his head on the front windshield,” Hoover said in an email.
Emergency medical service personnel took him to a South Korean hospital off-post for treatment. Hoover said he had not received a follow-up on the driver’s condition.
The gate was closed after the crash but reopened at 10 p.m. Sunday. The garrison resumed normal operations after the other gate barriers were checked as a precaution and deemed safe, Hoover said, adding that the incident remains under investigation.
It was at least the third gate-related incident this year at Humphreys, which has undergone a major expansion in recent years as part of a frequently delayed plan to relocate most U.S. forces south of Seoul.
In April, a car going the wrong way through another gate prompted a lockdown of the garrison, but authorities said it turned out to be a misunderstanding involving a driver who went the wrong way by accident. A South Korean man who drove through a gate without authorization was arrested in January.
The population at Humphreys, a sprawling base in the rural area of Pyeongtaek about 40 miles south of Seoul, has mushroomed to nearly 30,000 after the three main military commands – U.S. Forces Korea, Eighth Army and 2nd Infantry Division – moved their headquarters there, along with families and civilian employees.
gamel.kim@stripes.com Twitter: @kimgamel
