The Control Yuan has censured the police precinct in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) after investigating the arrest of music teacher Chan Hui-ling (詹慧玲) in April last year.
Chan, who thought she was being stopped without cause, refused to answer a police officer’s questions and called the incident “really stupid.”
The police officer, surnamed Yeh (葉), handcuffed Chan and arrested her on suspicion of obstructing a public official.
Chan filed a report accusing the officer of infringing on her civil liberties and causing bodily harm.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office closed the case in October last year without prosecuting either party, but Chan requested
EDITORIAL: Proportionality in policing
An incident on Thursday last week between a police officer and a woman walking in the area behind Jhongli Railway Station in Taoyuan has drawn public attention to proportionality in policing.
The incident ended with a Jhongli Police Precinct officer, surnamed Yeh (葉), wrestling the screaming woman, Chan Hui-ling (詹慧玲), to the sidewalk in a judo maneuver, pressing her face to the ground, and then detaining her for nine hours in the police station.
Chan, a music teacher, had refused to produce her identification card on Yeh’s request after he approached her to do a spot check. The situation quickly deteriorated when Yeh was affronted by an insult that Chan allegedly used against him.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday said it had opened an investigation into the arrest on Thursday of a woman who refused to answer a police officer’s questions after seemingly being stopped without cause.
The office said in a news release that, at the request of police, it on Thursday interrogated music teacher Chan Hui-ling (詹慧玲) on suspicion of obstructing a public official during an encounter in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢).
The office said the case is being reviewed and asked the public to be patient until the investigation is concluded.
The incident has drawn considerable attention in Taiwan,