A court has dismissed a request to issue an arrest warrant for former Yongsan police chief Lee Im-jae charged with professional negligence resulting in death regarding the deadly Itaewon crowd crush. 

The Seoul Western District Court on Monday turned down the call by a special police unit looking into the incident, citing a lack of grounds to arresthim. 

The court said the possibility of Lee destroying evidence and fleeing was low, adding his defense rights needed to be guaranteed. 

Lee was dismissed from his position amid the suspected bungled response to the fatal crowd surge on the night of Oct. 29 that resulted in 158 deaths.

The court cited the same reason in refusing to arrest former head of the Yonsan 112 situation room, Song Byung-joo, who was accused of failing to swiftly and appropriately deal with emergency calls on the night.  

However, the court issued a warrant for two other ex-senior police officers Park Sung-min and Kim Jin-ho, who were implicated in the alleged deletion of an internal report raising the alarm on the possible dangers of overcrowding in the area in advance.