Taoyuan prosecutors have indicted a Jhongli District (中壢) police officer for allegedly throwing a female music teacher to the ground and handcuffing her after she refused to submit to questioning.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office had initially declined to press charges, but the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office ordered local authorities in December last year to conduct a second review after the music teacher, Chan Hui-ling (詹慧玲), filed an appeal.
On April 22 last year, a police officer, surnamed Yeh (葉), approached Chan as she was walking near Jhongli Railway Station and attempted to question her, asking her name, if she lived nearby and whether she was carrying identification.
Photo: CNA
When Chan asked why, the officer said he was worried “someone reported you missing” — apparently assuming she was an unaccounted-for migrant worker, a video of the encounter released by police shows.
A dispute broke out after Chan refused to answer Yeh, with Chan appearing to use the words “really stupid,” the video shows.
When the officer asked if she called him stupid, Chan replied: “What you did violated ...”
The officer interjected, saying: “Okay, well you’ve just called me stupid,” before the video clip stops a few seconds later.
However, videos of the subsequent moments taken by bystanders show Yeh throwing Chan to the ground and handcuffing her as she screams in panic.
He then places her under arrest for “obstructing a public official,” the video shows.
In Facebook posts after the incident, Chan argued that Yeh did not have grounds to question her, and accused him of abusing his power by slamming her to the ground, handcuffing her and holding her at a police station for questioning.
Prosecutors said in a news release yesterday that after conducting a second review of the evidence in the case, they had charged Yeh with offenses against personal freedom by a public official.
The Taoyuan Police Department’s Jhongli Precinct vowed to respect the judicial process, and to step up training to ensure officers carry out their duties legally and with a sense of proportionality.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
RSS