A Kaohsiung man was charged last week for falsely reporting that he had been robbed to hitch a ride across town in a police car.
According to an indictment by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, the incident occurred at about 11pm on Feb. 26 last year, when a man surnamed Lai (賴) wanted to get to the city’s Siaogang District (小港), but lacked money for the taxi fare.
He resorted to a novel tactic, calling a police station and falsely reporting that his wallet had been stolen by two people on a white motorcycle, to have police officers pick him up and drive him to the station to process the report, the indictment said.
Photo courtesy of the National Police Agency
However, upon reviewing surveillance camera footage of the area, police found no evidence that Lai had been robbed, and he later admitted that he had been lying.
After being handed over to prosecutors, Lai changed his story, saying that he had dysautonomia, a disorder of the nervous system, which caused him to mistakenly believe he had been robbed.
Lai ultimately admitted upon further questioning that he had made the false report to get a free ride across town, the indictment said.
After completing their investigation, prosecutors indicted Lai last week for making a false accusation under the Criminal Code and requested a summary judgement from a court.
Prosecutors did not indicate what punishment they were seeking for the man.
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