A Chinese tourist needing to return home had to pay a NT$70,000 (US$2,250) fine to gain his release after police caught him driving a scooter while inebriated in Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁).
The man, surnamed Liao (廖), was on a group tour with four other men from China’s Fujian Province and they stayed in Kenting from June 14 to June 16.
“We received a report about an accident that weekend and found Liao at the scene with several toppled scooters. He had minor injuries. A breath test was administered, which found that he had broken the law by driving under the influence of alcohol,” Kenting Deputy Police Chief Chu Chih-hui (朱之輝) said on Sunday.
Liao had a 0.72mg per liter blood alcohol level, over the 0.15mg per liter legal limit, and was charged with offenses against public safety, Chu said.
It was the first case of a Chinese tourist being arrested on drunk driving charges and he had to pay a fine to secure his release.
The total cost came to about NT$90,000, as Liao also had to pay an estimated NT$20,000 to repair the scooters damaged in the crash, Chu said.
After questioning of Liao and his friends it transpired they had been drinking cocktails and kaoliang, before returning to their bed-and-breakfast lodging, but Liao had insisted on riding a rented scooter, despite being warned against doing so by his friends, police said.
However, Liao was drunk and he collided with four parked scooters on a roadside and fell to the ground, before police arrived and arrested him, they said.
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