A minor scuffle between police and journalists trying to cover the release of a high-profile corruption suspect on Monday has turned into a legal showdown between the government and a TV cameraman detained by police at the scene.
During the incident on Monday afternoon, a number of court police attempted without much success to fend off members of the press at the Taipei District Court, as the reporters chased the president's son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, (
As the press and police officers pushed one another in the chaos, Sanlih Entertainment Television employee Chu Wen-cheng (朱文正) was grabbed by several police officers and forcefully hauled into the court building, where he was taken into custody.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The court police then brought Chu to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and accused him of interfering with a public function (妨害公務罪).
The court police said they arrested Chu because he hit them and kicked a court police officer during the fray.
Prosecutors released Chu without bail late on Monday night .
Chu, who suffered minor injuries, told the press as he left the prosecutors' office that he neither swung at court police nor assaulted them.
"They got the wrong person," Chu said, adding that several cameramen had recorded the incident from different angles and could prove his innocence.
Widespread footage of the incident shown on several TV stations showed no evidence that Chu had attacked police officers.
Yesterday afternoon, Chu filed a lawsuit against the Taipei District Court police for offenses against personal liberty, causing bodily harm and malfeasance in office. He asked for NT$1 million (US$30,470) in compensation.
Chu claimed that court police beat him while he was in custody.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Yuan yesterday said it would "reflect" on the clash.
"The Judicial Yuan regrets the incident, and it will reflect on whether the court police overreacted ... But now that prosecutors have started probing the matter, any conclusions had better be made after the completion of the investigation," Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Fan Kuang-chun (
Fan said chaos often occurs at courts nationwide when the press chases important figures as they attend hearings.
"Regulations on press practices inside and outside the courts should be created to prevent this kind of chaos from repeatedly happening," he added.
The Taipei District Court yesterday afternoon also issued a press statement offering an apology for the incident.
Government Information Office Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) yesterday said that guaranteeing reporters' safety should be the most important thing during media events.
"Things like this could be avoided if the Taipei District Court prepared and arranged proper working areas for reporters during an event," Cheng said.
"No matter what, reporters' safety should be the priority at all times," Cheng said.
Cheng said that there might have been some misunderstandings in this case.
However, any violence should be investigated and people who attack others should not be forgiven, Cheng said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
ONLINE REPORT: Confirmed cases filling out the online contact tracing report can check a box to indicate that a close contact had received a booster dose, an official said The guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 have been revised to include people aged 65 or older who test positive with a rapid test that is confirmed by a healthcare worker, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 65,794 new local infections. The CECC had first announced the change on Monday, before publishing the new guidelines. Starting today, people aged 65 or older, regardless of whether they are undergoing home quarantine, home isolation or self-disease prevention, can be classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case by a healthcare professional, based on a positive result from an antigen rapid test, said
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
Three human skeletons and artifacts believed to be about 400 years old were unearthed by construction workers at National Ilan University in Yilan County, the university said yesterday. The discoveries were made on May 10 as workers were digging to expand the College of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science’s facilities, the university said in a statement. The skeletons were found at three sites, along with glass beads, copper bells and rings, discs and a fish-shaped metal knot, it said. The find is likely connected to the “Old Baili Village” (擺厘舊社, Bai Li Jiu She), an as-yet-undiscovered Kavalan settlement that has been mentioned in