Minister of the Interior Yeh Chun-jung (葉俊榮) and National Police Agency Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩) yesterday condemned the violent attack and called for improved protection of law enforcement officers after a suspect accused of trying to kill a traffic police officer with a meat cleaver was released on bail while the victim was still fighting for his life in hospital.
The suspect, Wu Chih-chan (吳志展), was shown in surveillance video wielding a meat cleaver while grappling with a police officer surnamed Chang (張) on a road in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) on Tuesday.
Chang suffered deep cuts and was bleeding before he ran to a nearby house for help.
Photo: Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
An ambulance came to take him to hospital, while a New Taipei City police squad with an arrest warrant headed to Wu’s residence to pick him up for questioning.
After questioning, prosecutors applied to detain Wu on attempted manslaughter charges and requested that he be refused bail, citing the risk of him trying to flee.
However, a judge at the bail hearing at the New Taipei City District Court granted Wu’s release on NT$300,000 bail.
His family later arrived to pay the bail and Wu was released early yesterday morning.
News of the judge granting Wu’s release on bail outraged many people, including law enforcement officers, and about 20 police officers protested outside the court, demanding that the suspect be locked up.
Last night, the court approved another prosecutors’ request that Wu be detained.
Court spokeswoman Lien Yu-chun (連育群) said that, according to documents delivered by prosecutors, Wu fled immediately after committing the crime and later only turned himself in because he knew that he could not evade capture for long.
Having committed a crime that is punishable by 10 years in prison, Lien said that the court believed that Wu has motivation to escape and therefore decided that he should be detained.
The earlier ruling provoked a firestorm of criticism.
“Every police officer faces danger when on duty upholding public security,” Yeh said. “Someone used a weapon to slash and injure this officer when he was doing his job. This incident is a disgrace for Taiwan as a free, democratic country.”
“I am very angry about this, because Chang was attacked without warning when he was on duty on the streets,” Chen said. “The authority of the police must be upheld.”
“We hope to see better training and to have improved equipment for police. We also urge the public to support our police, and give all police officers dignity and respect as they carry out their duty,” Chen added.
Earlier in the day, when facing the media, Wu knelt in an attempt to make a public apology, and said that he was very sorry for his actions and that he had set a very bad example for society.
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