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.
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