Three men accused of beating a university student unconscious following a traffic accident in Taichung on Sunday were taken into custody and held incommunicado Thursday following a request from prosecutors.
The Taichung District Court ordered the detention of the three, 23-year-old Chang Tun-liang (???), 25-year-old Lee Wei-lin (???) and 19-year-old Chen Chin-hao (???), after a hearing earlier in the day where it was determined they posed a flight risk and could collude to pervert the course of justice.
The detention stemmed from a traffic accident in the early hours of Sunday, when a car driven by the 18-year-old university student, identified by his family name Sung (?), glanced a Maserati when changing lanes at the intersection of Taiwan Boulevard and Henan Road.
Lee was driving the Maserati in which Chang and Chen were passengers when the accident occurred.
The trio called four friends to come to the scene, forced Sung out of his car and assaulted him with a baseball bat, despite the fact that he repeatedly apologized.
When police arrived at the scene the incident was over, so they arrested the trio for further investigation and Sung was taken to Taichung Veterans General Hospital. The four friends who turned up at the scene, but did not take part in the assault, were not detained.
However, police quickly released the three suspects and processed the incident as a "no trial without complaint" case.
After later examining video footage and evidence, police handed the case over to the Taichung Prosecutors Office for further investigation, accusing the three men of suspected attempted murder, offenses against public order, threatening behavior and intentional injury.
In view of the severity of the case, prosecutors on Wednesday afternoon issued warrants to summon the trio, and asked the court to order that they be detained.
Sung has been unconscious since the assault and is in critical condition, the hospital said, adding that the next five to seven days will be crucial to his recovery.
On Thursday, Chang's father apologized in public to Sung's family on behalf of his son, indicating he would like to "say sorry" to Sung's mother in person.
Chang's parents later went to the hospital, where they knelt down in front of the gate to beg the forgiveness of Sung's mother, but she refused to meet with them.
Also on Thursday, three police officers were punished for their handling of the case. One received a demerit, while the other two were transferred, the Taichung City Police Department announced at a news conference.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel