A former Taoyuan police officer who shot and killed a passenger in a vehicle that was fleeing police has been found not guilty of negligent homicide, the Taoyuan District Court said yesterday.
The court said the defendant, surnamed Tseng (曾), was deputy head of the Taoyuan Police Department’s Bade Precinct when the incident occurred on the night of March 27, 2020.
After noticing a suspicious car in an alley, Tseng used a loudspeaker to order it to pull over. The car’s driver, surnamed Wu (吳), who was drunk at the time, sped off, sparking a chase in which he reversed two times to ram Tseng’s patrol car.
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
After reversing a third time, Wu turned his vehicle to the right to flee again. Tseng, who had exited his car, fired five shots at the moving vehicle’s back tire, two of which hit a female passenger in the car’s back seat.
The passenger, surnamed Yang (楊), was struck in the leg and back by the bullets, and later died despite emergency medical treatment.
In its ruling, the Taoyuan court said Wu’s reckless driving during the episode had posed a “significant danger” to other drivers and pedestrians.
Based on surveillance video footage of the shooting, it was also clear that Tseng was aiming downward toward the vehicle’s tires when he fired the shots to bring it to a stop, it said.
Given the severity and potential danger of the situation, as well as that Tseng followed police protocol on the use of firearms, the court said there was insufficient evidence that he committed a crime and found him not guilty.
The verdict can be appealed.
Meanwhile, Wu was previously found guilty of driving under the influence and obstructing a public official and was sentenced to a combined eight months in prison, commutable to a fine.
Although Tseng was cleared of criminal charges, a court in February ordered the Taoyuan City Government and Bade Police Precinct to pay a combined NT$7.48 million (US$233,984) in state compensation to Yang’s parents and two children over her death.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS