The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a High Court ruling awarding a motorbike rider who was paralyzed in a road accident in Taipei nearly NT$8.75 million (US$280,089) in state compensation, far less than she was awarded in the case’s first trial.
At about 1am on Jan. 22, 2017, the rider, surnamed Wu (吳), drove into a restricted area near the Presidential Office Building, where police were preparing the street for a planned protest.
Wu drove past a checkpoint set up to control oncoming traffic and ran into barriers lying flat on the ground that were to be erected later that day.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
She fell from her vehicle in the crash and was left paralyzed from the waist down.
In its ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, the Supreme Court said it did not find fault with the High Court’s verdict and rejected the appeals filed by Wu and the police.
In siding with the High Court, the Supreme Court said that Wu bore more of the responsibility for the crash for failing to pay attention to the situation around her, but police from Taipei’s Jhongzheng Second Precinct were also derelict in their duties.
Wu initially sued for compensation after she was paralyzed in the crash, citing the actions of the police.
The Taipei District Court in September 2020 ruled that the police station should take 70 percent of the responsibility because of its inadequate traffic control measures at the scene and awarded Wu NT$21.48 million in compensation.
Wu and the precinct separately appealed the ruling, and the High Court revised the judgement, reducing the compensation to NT$8.75 million based on its finding that Wu should assume 70 percent of the responsibility for the crash.
The High Court in January said that the police were partly to blame because of a lack of warning signs erected around the barriers — which were only about 10cm high when laid on the ground — making it difficult for motorists to spot them at night.
The precinct had issued a warning in advance about traffic controls in the area, and Wu should have been aware of the situation as there were other roadblocks installed nearby, the High Court said.
Wu maintained a speed of 30kph to 40kph without slowing down when she approached the area, and instead of stopping at the checkpoint, which was staffed by three police officers, she took advantage of them being distracted by other motorists to drive past them, it said.
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