The father of three children who were hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing on Thursday was granted one day’s prison leave the next day to visit two of them in hospital, said the Taichung Prison, where he has been serving a five-year sentence.
The man, surnamed Chen (陳), visited his two daughters on Friday night at Changhua Christian Hospital and Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, respectively, where they are both in intensive care, following the road incident in Changhua County, the prison said.
Chen has been referred to a counselor for mental support, it added.
Chen’s three children, all of
elementary-school age, were hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing in the county’s Shengang Township (伸港) at 6:21pm on Thursday, police said.
The two older siblings, two girls, sustained severe injuries, while their brother had bruises on his left foot, the hospitals where they were taken said.
One sister appears to have sustained serious brain damage, and the other one is intubated, as her blood pressure remains very low, they said.
Their brother, who was not hospitalized, on Friday said that when he and his sisters were crossing the street, they saw a car approaching, and his eldest sister pulled them into a run to get across the street quickly.
However, they were hit by the car when they were almost on the other side, he said.
The 73-year-old driver surnamed Hsiao (蕭) was driving without a license, the police said.
It has not yet been determined who had the right of way on the pedestrian crossing at the time of the incident, or how fast the car was going, police said, adding that the driver’s breath alcohol test was negative.
The three children are usually picked up from school by their uncle, who is their primary caretaker, but he was recovering on Thursday from eye surgery, therefore they had to go home by themselves, the school said.
The children’s parents are divorced, their grandfather said.
The three children have a very close relationship and they look out for each other and do the household chores together, he said.
Meanwhile, following criticism that the crossing where the incident happened is too long and oblique, a maintenance worker at the Highway Bureau said the agency and police have conducted an inspection of the incident site and found no problems with the signals or the line markings.
However, they would consider how to improve the crossing such as by marking out a pedestrian island, the worker said.
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