Two men have been indicted over the death of a university student killed by an air-conditioning unit that fell 17 stories onto a street in New Taipei City in July, prosecutors said on Friday.
The owner of Jinyao Air Conditioning (金耀冷凍空調), surnamed Liu (劉), and one of his workers, surnamed Lee (李), were charged with negligent homicide, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
On July 20, a 21-year-old National Chengchi University student surnamed Huang (黃) was hit on the head by an air-conditioner weighing about 30kg as she waited at a bus stop near the No. 2 entrance of Xinpu MRT station.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
Police found that it had fallen from the apartment in which it was being installed.
Huang showed no signs of life when medical personnel arrived at the scene and was declared dead after being taken to Far Eastern Memorial Hospital.
Lee was hired by Liu on a freelance contract to install a vertical window air-conditioner at an apartment on Minsheng Road in Banciao District (板橋), prosecutors said.
Under the contract, Liu understood that the installation should have been carried out by two qualified technicians, and that work should be halted if problems arose, they said.
Lee undertook the installation on his own and consulted Liu and his employees about the work, an indication that Liu knew he was unfamiliar with this type of unit, they said.
Liu knew that Lee did not have the requisite work experience, but still allowed him to carry out the job, and the air-conditioner fell because Lee did not properly attach the unit, they said.
Liu allowed someone unqualified to undertake a high-risk job because he was trying to cut back on labor costs, prosecutors said.
They said that Lin should be given a heavy sentence, as he showed no remorse during questioning.
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