The Taoyuan District Court yesterday approved the detention of a truck driver accused of killing three people and injuring three while under the influence of alcohol in Taoyuan on Saturday morning.
The driver, surnamed Chu (朱), 26, faces charges of driving under the influence (DUI) and negligent manslaughter, prosecutors said.
A test showed that Chu had a blood alcohol level of 0.64 miligrams per liter (mg/L), which is more than four times the legal limit of 0.15mg/L, prosecutors said.
Chu allegedly swerved and sideswiped four parked cars on Dajhu Road in Taoyuan’s Lujhu District (蘆竹), then ran into a group of people, which included volunteers who were cleaning up the neighborhood.
Police said that Chu was probably going too fast and lost control of his vehicle on a curve.
Those killed included two volunteers — surnamed Hsieh (謝), 61, and Huang (黃), 62, — as well as a man surnamed Yeh (葉), 75, who worked as a building security guard.
Huang’s husband said: “I hope the government will institute tough measures, so that no more family members have to bear such grief and pain.”
Two other volunteers were injured, as well as Chu’s girlfriend, surnamed Chiu (邱), who was sitting in the truck’s passenger seat.
The daughter of the security guard said that the government must come down hard on drunk drivers.
“It is no use just handing out a fine and suspending their driver’s license,” she said.
“Paying a fine is no deterrent for drunk drivers, while the pain and suffering is permanent for the victims and their families,” she said, adding that people who cause fatal accidents should be given life sentences.
She said she was hit by a drunk driver 10 years ago while riding her scooter, fracturing a vertebra and her pelvic bone.
It took her a long time to recover and she had trouble getting pregnant as a result, she said.
“That driver had four DUI convictions, but my father was lenient and forgave him... It is a mockery that he was killed by a drunk driver,” she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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