Taiwan Quick Take: Man held for drunken killing

A jobless man was detained yesterday by Hualien police while strolling drunkenly in the street after punching a friend of his father the previous night, an attack that allegedly caused the man's death early this morning. According to police, a 31-year-old man surnamed Wu admitted to beating his father's friend and was turned over to the Hualien Prosecutor's Office on a homicide charge. Wu was accused of forcing the victim to go to an open plot nearby and angrily punching him in the head until he fell to the ground unconscious. Wu then left the man, who was already in a coma, police said. According to an initial investigation by police, the two men began having a row after the friend of his father sneered at Wu over his lack of a job. The victim was found by Wu's neighbors, who reported the case to police. Authorities pronounced the victim dead early yesterday morning and said that he had suffered serious brain damage by the time he arrived at the hospital.