A Taoyuan man on Wednesday was found guilty of killing a man while driving under the influence (DUI) in April 2018.
The man, surnamed Liao (廖), was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison, and ordered to pay compensation to the victim’s family.
The Taoyuan District Court explained its ruling, saying that Liao (廖) fled after hitting a man surnamed Chen (陳), who was just about to open the door to his parked vehicle.
Investigators said that Liao did not stop to report the accident, as required by law, but drove off and was flagged down an hour later by Taoyuan police, who gave him a breath alcohol test.
The test found that Liao had a blood alcohol level of 0.51mg per liter (mg/L), above the legal limit of 0.15mg/L.
During the trial, Liao said he thought that he had only hit a utility pole, but drove away because he did not want to be caught for drunk driving.
The judges also found Chen at fault, saying that he should bear 20 percent of the responsibility for the accident, as investigators had found that his driver’s license had been suspended, and he had parked his car illegally, taking up part of the road’s outer lane.
Therefore, the judges reduced the compensation Liao must pay to NT$2.1 million (US$69,814) from the NT$7.17 million claimed by Chen’s parents.
Liao had already paid the parents NT$250,000 for Chen’s funeral expenses, the judges said.
As the first ruling in the case, the sentence can be appealed.
Seperately, a Coast Guard Administration chief officer surnamed Liang (梁) was demoted to a non-executive position after an accident in Taipei on Tuesday night in which four people were injured.
Investigators said that Liang hit six motorists who were waiting for the traffic lights to change at an intersection.
Liang had a blood alcohol level of 0.5mg/L, and faces charges related to driving under the influence and causing an accident that resulted in injuries.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
RSS