A 22-year-old man surnamed Lee (李) caused a fatal highway accident yesterday morning that left three people dead and six injured, Miaoli County police said, adding that Lee was found not to have a driver’s license.
The incident sparked angry reactions, after local media reported that Lee had recently learned to drive and had not yet obtained a license, but already had traffic violations.
The casualties were a baby girl and two teenage friends who were on an outing with Lee.
Photo: CNA
The crash occurred at about 4am on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) as Lee drove a white sedan with five passengers back home after a late-night outing in Taichung.
Police said that Lee sped up to overtake another car, but after he hit the side of a truck, the sedan spun out of control and slammed into the guard rails on the inner lane.
A three-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy surnamed Chiang (江) were tossed out of the car, and showed no vital signs when medics arrived, while a 16-year-old passenger surnamed Hsu (徐), who sat in the front passenger seat, later died of his injuries at a local hospital.
Lee and three other passengers sustained minor injuries, as did the driver of the truck, surnamed Chou (周), and two male passengers riding with him.
Lee was quoted as saying during questioning that he had no driver’s license and that the sedan belonged to his father, but he had often used it on weekends, when his father is off work.
Police records showed that Lee had previously been cited for traffic violations and was last month arrested for allegedly trying to run down a police officer with a motorcycle after leading the police on a chase.
In that incident, he was charged with theft and obstruction of justice, as the motorcycle had been reported as stolen, but Lee told police that he had found the license plate and put in on the motorcycle, which he said he had bought for NT$20,000 from a shop in Miaoli City.
Lee posted photographs on Facebook of him making modifications to his motorcycle and wrote “Have no fear” in response to news that police were cracking down on drunk driving.
He also wrote: “I rode around without a license,” which netizens said displayed arrogance and disregard of the law.
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