Police in Taichung have been criticized after images emerged of a five-year-old boy taking a breath alcohol test after he crashed his bicycle into a car parked in an alley.
The sobriety test is a standard police tool used in all traffic-related incidents, the Wufeng police precinct said on Saturday.
All people involved in a traffic accident, regardless of age, must be checked for alcohol, even if a bicycle is involved, it said.
The National Police Agency said that in accordance with the principle of fairness, officers are required to take statements from all parties involved in an accident, sobriety tests included.
There was no misconduct on the part of the officer, as he acted in accordance with standard police procedure, it said.
The incident came to light when the owner of a white Tesla posted a photograph of the boy taking the breath test on social media on Friday, writing: “The little boy was really brave and faced up to the problem” and: “Luckily, the boy is OK.”
After being criticized for posting the photo, the owner said that his intention was to show how responsible the boy was, as he did not run away, but called his parents and explained what had happened.
While some derided the police for submitting a child to an alcohol test, others criticized the car owner for overreacting to a trivial matter, saying he should have settled the matter with the boy’s parents instead of calling the police.
However, the owner said he contacted the authorities because he needed an official police report to give his insurance company to cover the repairs.
He reached an agreement with the family, who live next door, over repairs to the car, he wrote.
The boy’s mother asked why the breath test was needed and suggested that the police should be more flexible in such situations.
The Wufeng precinct later said it would bring this issue to the attention of higher authorities and would ask if children involved in such incidents can be exempted from tests.
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