Netizens yesterday praised Taipei prosecutors for charging a drunk driver with manslaughter, after he was involved in an accident that killed a motorist and left two seriously injured in the city on Sunday.
The driver, surnamed Kuo (郭), met friends at a KTV parlor on Saturday night and drank until 5am on Sunday, when he allegedly drove a car home, investigators said.
Prosecutors said that video footage showed Kuo driving a black Toyota along Keelung Road Sec 3 at high speed early in the morning when he slammed into three scooters along the road as the car spun out of control, plowing into the roadside, damaging several storefronts and knocking over parked scooters.
A test showed that Kuo had a blood alcohol level of 1.29 milligrams per liter (mg/L), well in excess of the legal limit of 0.15mg/L, prosecutors said.
The accident killed a 40-year-old woman surnamed Chen (陳) on a scooter, while two other female motorcyclists sustained multiple injuries and were taken to a hospital, they said.
The accident broke almost every major bone in Chen’s body, her brother said, adding that the impact shattered her neck, vertebrae and pelvis, and fractured her skull and chest cavity, causing severe trauma and internal bleeding that proved fatal.
Police transferred Kuo to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of offenses against public safety.
However, after questioning, prosecutors decided to charge Kuo with manslaughter, they said.
Drunk drivers are more commonly charged with offenses against public safety and negligence in causing death, both of which carry less severe penalties.
Even though he knew he had drunk much more than the legal limit, Kuo still drove home, directly causing the fatal accident, so he should be charged for unintentionally killing Chen through his actions, prosecutors said.
Kuo said he had no intention to kill and pleaded for his release, but at a bail hearing at the Taipei District Court on Thursday, the judge granted prosecutors’ request that he detain Kuo, saying that Kuo knowingly drove while under the influence, which showed he had no regard for the lives of others.
The news was circulated online and many netizens applauded the court for taking a stand and denying Kuo bail.
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