Taichung: Drug-impaired driving has been suspected in two separate fatal car accidents in Taichung and Taoyuan on Thursday evening, authorities said Friday.
According to Focus Taiwan, the first case occurred on Zhonghua Road Section 1 in Taichung's Wuqi District, resulting in the deaths of two people and injuries to another. The Taichung City Police Bureau's Qingshui Precinct reported that a 29-year-old driver, surnamed Hsu, crashed a four-door sedan into a tree and was suspected of having consumed ketamine. Hsu was ejected from the vehicle during the crash, while his two 18-year-old passengers, both surnamed Chen, remained trapped inside. First responders found Hsu showing no signs of life at the scene, and one passenger was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital. The other passenger, who suffered abrasions, was conscious at the time of rescue and is currently under hospital observation. Surveillance footage suggested that Hsu was racing with another car, whose owner has been identified by the police. The precinct also discovered unknown white powder at the scene, which preliminary tests identified as ketamine, and a saliva sample from the surviving passenge r also tested positive for the drug.
In the second incident, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office reported that a driver, suspected of using amphetamine, struck two bystanders during a police chase, resulting in their deaths. The driver, identified as 30-year-old Chang, later died in a hospital on Friday. The office stated that Chang fled from a traffic stop on Chunri Road in Taoyuan District, leading police on a 6-kilometer chase that ended when Chang's vehicle left the road near Min-Sheng General Hospital. Chang's car hit two men, 60-year-old Hou and 65-year-old Yeh, who were waiting at a red light. Both victims suffered severe head lacerations, open limb fractures, and mutilation, and were pronounced dead at the scene after resuscitation efforts failed. Taoyuan prosecutors confirmed that a urine sample from Chang tested positive for amphetamine.