The Changhua District Court on Wednesday sentenced a man to nine years and six months in prison for a drunk driving hit-and-run that killed a man and injured the dead man’s wife.
The 45-year-old driver, surnamed Huang (黃), was given a jail sentence of seven years and two months for causing a death while driving under the influence, and an additional four years and eight months for fleeing the scene of the crash.
The court set a combined sentence of nine years and six months, a statement said yesterday.
Photo: Lin Liang-che, Taipei Times
The verdict can be appealed.
Huang was driving in Changhua’s Hemei Township (和美) at 7:37pm on March 16 last year after drinking at a friend’s home and struck a married couple walking along the road, the statement said, adding that the couple had been sent flying into a gutter.
Huang stopped at the scene for six seconds without getting out of his vehicle, then fled, it said.
The couple was discovered by a passersby and they were taken to hospital.
Huang was subsequently stopped by police and agreed to take a breath test at 10:44pm, which showed that his breath had an alcohol concentration of 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L) — well above the 0.15mg/L legal limit, the court said.
The husband died after 21 days of treatment due to head trauma and complications from acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Huang was held fully responsible for the crash, as he had also been speeding and failed to keep a proper lookout, the court said.
Furthermore, after hitting the couple, he fled the scene in an attempt to evade responsibility, showing no regard for the victims, it said, adding that his actions resulted in a critical delay in rescue efforts.
Huang initially tried to shift the blame to his wife, claiming she had been the one driving, the court said.
He also later withdrew his guilty plea for fleeing the scene, saying he had not intended for anyone to die — actions the court said showed a lack of genuine remorse.
However, the court also took into account that he had two children and no prior criminal or traffic violations.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS