Three police officers in Taoyuan are being investigated by prosecutors for alleged brutality against a 17-year-old boy during a recent interrogation, the city’s police precinct said on Thursday.
The case is being handled by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office, the precinct said in a statement.
Police officers who break the law would be severely punished and their supervisors held accountable, it said, indicating that the police station’s chief has been transferred to a non-supervisory position over the incident.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
Taoyuan City Councilor Chan Chiang-tsun (詹江村) said the victim, identified by his last name, Huang (黃), was passing in front of Wuling police station at about 9pm on Sunday when he was stopped by three officers.
They accused Huang of being involved in a recent kidnapping case and took him into the station, where he was interrogated for about an hour, Chan said.
During the interrogation Huang was struck multiple times and even subjected to an electric shock device by the officers in an attempt to make him confess, the councilor said, indicating that the teenager was released after eight hours of wrongful detention because the officers had no evidence against him.
Chan said that he asked the police station for an account of the incident, but was told there is no recording of the interrogation.
Huang said he was only passing by the area to get to his scooter when the officers detained him for questioning.
They did not give an explanation, Huang said, adding that he was simply told to leave after they returned his cellphone.
Following a medical examination at Saint Paul’s Hospital in Taoyuan, the teenager said he filed a report with the Sanxia police precinct against the three officers for “intimidation, causing harm and public humiliation.”
In its statement, the Taoyuan police precinct said that officers who break the law would be severely punished and their supervisors held accountable.
On Thursday, the Taoyuan precinct apologized to Huang and his family over the incident.
In addition, they said the precinct would not tolerate and does not condone contraventions of the law by its officers.
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