A bus driver was on Thursday charged with negligent homicide, after he allegedly plowed into a family crossing a street in the Taichung’s North District (北區) in December last year, killing the 31-year-old mother and her one-year-old son.
The 53-year-old driver, surnamed Chen (陳), failed to give way to the family, prosecutors said, adding that they had asked the court to hand down a heavy sentence to driver.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said that the incident occurred when the woman, her husband and child legally crossed Yingcai Road at its intersection with Xueshi Road at about 11:15pm on Dec. 27.
Photo: CNA
As they were crossing, Chen, driving a No. 280 city bus, made a left turn on a green light on Yingcai Road, apparently failing to see the two adults and their child in a stroller.
The three were immediately taken to China Medical University Hospital, where the mother, surnamed Lee (李), and her child were pronounced dead. The father, an Iraqi national, was treated for minor injuries.
The father, surnamed Chi (季), told reporters that they had almost reached the other side of the road when the bus, driving at high speed, made a left and ran them over.
His account was confirmed by witnesses, who said the family had been legally crossing the crosswalk, but appeared to have been in the driver’s “blind spot,” as he made no attempt to slow the bus before hitting them.
Shortly after the incident, Chen told police that he had not seen the family due to poor lighting at the site.
He only realized that something had happened after feeling a “bump” at the back of the bus, police cited him as saying.
Based on video footage from the bus’ dashcam and nearby surveillance cameras, prosecutors determined that Chen’s vision was not impeded, calling his statement an invalid excuse.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS