Police officers deployed at train stations and on trains have been equipped with pepper spray and bulletproof vests, and are working in teams after one of their colleagues was killed by a train passenger on Wednesday.
The measures were put in place after 24-year-old railway police officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰) was stabbed on a northbound train at Chiayi Station at 8:42pm on Wednesday while responding to a quarrel between a passenger and a conductor.
The alleged attacker, surnamed Cheng (鄭), was found to be riding without a ticket. Following the incident, he was subdued by other passengers.
Photo: Copied by Liu Ching-hou, Taipei Times
Lee died in a hospital at 8:37am on Thursday.
Coroners said that a knife had punctured Lee’s liver, leaving a 5cm laceration on a 10cm deep wound.
Lee died of massive blood loss, as the knife had severed major arteries in his abdomen, coroners said.
The National Policy Agency deployed an additional 120 officers from its special forces to support the Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung police bureaus to ensure safety at train stations and on trains, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday.
Officers are to wear bulletproof vests and patrol in pairs during peak travel times and between 8pm and 10pm, when many workers are headed home, it said.
They are to carry pepper spray and two officers will respond to any situation at all hours of the day, it said.
The agency also plans to procure stun guns to make it easier for officers to enforce the law, it said.
Separately yesterday, Chiayi head prosecutor Tsai Ying-chun (蔡英俊) said that 54-year-old Cheng faces charges of murder and obstruction of a police officer.
Investigators said that there were elements of premeditation, as surveillance footage showed Cheng entering a supermarket where he purchased two small knives before heading to Tainan Railway Station and boarding the northbound train on Wednesday evening.
“Cheng said he was upset about some issues and planned to take the train to Taipei to protest outside the Presidential Office Building, but later he changed his story, saying he wanted to hold a news conference in Taipei,” Tsai said.
Cheng first claimed that he had planned the killing, but later said the confrontation with the conductor and Lee was a spur-of-the-moment act, and Lee’s death was an accident, Tsai said.
As Cheng had given contradictory statements and his wife provided information that did not align with other aspects of his story, arrangements were made to question Cheng further, while investigators are collecting information and interviewing people with knowledge of the case, Tsai said.
Cheng’s wife told investigators that her husband has had depression for years and has been under financial strain due to being unable to collect payments from customers in his work as an electrician and air-conditioner installer.
However, media quoted the couple’s neighbors as saying that Cheng was depressed and had mood swings because he lost a lot of money on bad investments.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard