An 18-year-old student left in a critical condition after an alleged assault triggered by a minor traffic accident has thanked well-wishers for their support, after he was transferred to the general ward of Taichung Veterans General Hospital Monday.
In a pre-recorded clip released Tuesday, the university student, surnamed Sung (?), thanked the public for their encouragement, as well as the flood of cards and flowers received wishing him a speedy recovery.
"I'm feeling good and want to get better swiftly and go back to school soon," said Sung, whose improved condition saw him allowed to leave the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) Monday.
Sung, a student at Feng Chia University, landed in the ICU after being beaten into a comatose state in the early hours of Nov. 7 following an alleged road rage-triggered assault.
Sung had been involved in a minor traffic accident with 25-year-old Lee Wei-lin (???), after Sung's car glanced a Maserati driven by Lee when changing lanes.
According to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office, Lee, along with 23-year-old Chang Tun-liang (???) and 19-year-old Chen Chin-hao (???), who were passengers in the car Lee drove, then beat Sung unconscious with a baseball bat over the collision at the intersection of Taiwan Boulevard and Henan Road.
Andrew Shen (???), director of Taichung Veterans General Hospital's Neurology Institute, said Tuesday that Sung had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage and would still need to undergo rehabilitation.
However, Shen added that "fortunately his [Sung's] auditory nerve and optic nerve have not been hurt and he will gradually get better and eventually recover."
Lee, Chang and Chen were detained incommunicado Thursday, and the trio are now being investigated by prosecutors for attempted murder, offenses against public order, threatening behavior and intentional injury.
According to Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chuo Chun-chung (???) of the Taichung District Prosecutors Office, Chang, the key suspect, was indicted in May for the use of threatening behavior and violence when seeking to collect a debt with his friends.
Speaking at a meeting at the Taichung City Council on Tuesday, Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (???) vowed no tolerance of violence and pledged to crack down on gang-related activities.
To this end, Lu said that the city's police department had launched a campaign Thursday targeting criminal elements and organized crime groups in a bid to restore public order.
Beginning Sunday, 19 people with suspected links to the trio, including a man, surnamed Hsu (?), accused of operating three illegal gambling websites, his wife and three assistants, have been apprehended in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung on gambling-related charges and for violations of the Organized Crime Prevention Act and the Money Laundering Control Act.
Hsu, his wife, and the three assistants were released on bail ranging from NT$50,000 (US$1,798) to NT$700,000 on Tuesday.
Police said Chang had both managed and invested in gambling websites owned by Hsu.
They added that Lee and Chen, Chang's co-accused in the assault of Sung, were both former workers of his.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel