The Control Yuan censured the National Police Agency yesterday for its officers’ excessive use of force during an incident in May last year involving a man who attacked police while rampaging through a convenience store in Taoyuan.
The police officers not only violated safety protocols during the arrest and put themselves in danger, but also acted disproportionately by striking the man with a baton after he had already been subdued, the government watchdog said in a statement.
The police agency should improve its training and review the procurement of security equipment on a regular basis, it said.
Photo copied by CNA
A 28-year-old amateur bodybuilder, surnamed Chu (朱), entered a 7-Eleven store shirtless on May 20 last year and allegedly showed erratic behavior, talking to himself and knocking over products, prompting the store’s clerk to call the police.
When police arrived at the store and asked Chu to leave, he got enraged and hit officers in the face as they tried to disable him with pepper spray, the Taoyuan Police Department’s Jhongli Precinct said.
Videos of the incident were widely shared on social media, particularly a clip in which Chu, while fighting off the two officers, squats, flexes his muscles and roars, leading local media to dub him the “Taiwanese Hulk.”
However, more controversial was a second clip taken after he had been subdued.
The video footage showed Chu sitting on the steps outside the store and being struck by an officer 12 times with a baton as he curled up on the ground and cried repeatedly that the officer was hurting him.
As the video spread on social media, the Jhongli Precinct said that after Chu was subdued, he continued to verbally “provoke” the responding officers by threatening to kill them.
However, the precinct also said that one of the officers, surnamed Wang (王), appeared to have lost control and used excessive force, resulting in administrative demerits.
Although Chu and the police officers initially sued each other for injury, the two parties reached a settlement and withdrew their complaints in August last year.
The officers should have maintained a safe distance from Chu upon noticing his unstable mental condition, rather than “grabbing Chu’s wrist to take him outside the store for clarification on the incident,” the Control Yuan said.
Additionally, the watchdog pointed out that police training should focus on effective communication rather than resorting to force.
It also urged the agency to review its equipment, as officers were not equipped with projectile stun guns due to a shortage, although its training materials indicated that they are the most effective tools for police enforcement in similar situations.
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