FWIW, he announced a couple of weeks ago that he would be leaving the island, so I wouldn’t read too much into THAT.
The hard part now would likely be trying to establish who was driving at the time of the accident. Sad for the one who died. Doesnt really matter to him who killed him, hes dead nonetheless.
[quote=“tommy525”]The hard part now would likely be trying to establish who was driving at the time of the accident. Sad for the one who died. Doesnt really matter to him who killed him, hes dead nonetheless.[/quote]The guy who died was also the sole provider for his family. This is far far worse that the “simon templer” case as someone actually died here. This is sad. Trying to flee the country and scrapping his car if that is true then what a wanker. Anyway innocent until proven guilty and all that. 
I hope the dead guy’s family are sorted out financially as that is no doubt what the dead man would want. Well apart from his taken life back.
I thought it was a woman who was killed. She was a ‘paper delivery’ person or so the crap-ass local media is/was saying.
Its a shame the media here is so undependable;you just don’t know what to believe.
It looks bad for the waiguo, which is to be expected, so I hope some actual truth get injected into this mess.
I disagree.
Of course the story is tragic. And of course it’s tragic mostly for the dead guy and his family.
But if the suspect is guilty, then it’s tragic for him too. Geez, look at the guy. He is/was apparently handsome, hard working, ambitious, intelligent, wealthy and successful, lived here 16 years and worked his way up to CEO…with a beautiful woman hanging on his arm. Life must have been grand. Plus, he is/was successful in legal, legitimate, socially respectable ways, unlike the Rhodesian guy. And he’s still young. Who knows how much higher he can (could have) gone?
Then, if the facts are as alleged – BAM!!! — in one instant, one moment of bad judgment, everything is completely, permanently ripped away from him, all that terrific mountain of success that he worked so hard to climb up has been pulled from below and he plummets into a chasm of panic, despair, horror and hopelessness.
How would YOU respond in that crisis situation? Can you positively guarantee you would respond honestly, honorably, humbly accepting your devastating fate, the loss of decades of hard work and outstanding results and submit to the ghastly consequences? Are you absolutely certain you wouldn’t question for just a moment whether, holy shit, maybe if I just. . . . maybe I can escape the horror. . . ?
I know I can’t make that guarantee. Of course the primary tragedy is for the dead guy and his family, but if the suspect did as alleged, I can definitely understand how he might have panicked and frantically, in the stunned, drunken, horrific, shocking moments afterwards, searched desperately for a way out.
Reminds me of Tom Wolfe’s great novel, “Bonfire of the Vanities.” If you haven’t read it you should. It’s gripping. And it starts out with a millionaire stock trader – a “Master of the Universe” – who, through an odd, random set of circumstances inadvertently kills a boy in his car and panics afterwards. Seems to me that would be a common response, and not the sign of a wanker but the sign of being a human full of emotions and frailty, forced to respond instantly in a devastating crisis.
Yes tragic all around. Most people dont want to be responsible for killing someone with a motor vehicle. However, if he was drunk and driving. It does make things worse. Leaving the scene is a very bad thing to do in any case. And trying to destroy evidence adds to the guilt. Plus not owning up as it appears. Course all the facts are not in yet. .
The TV news keeps airing reports with pictures of two diffferent people! One of them is the Zain that many of us here know, the other is a different Zain (no idea who he is) whose pictures I guess they got on Facebook. I wish they’d get their facts straight. There have been several inconsistencies in the reporting of this.
(Does anyone know if it’s really Zain?!! I thought he drove an old Jag, not a Benz.)
I disagree.
Of course the story is tragic. And of course it’s tragic mostly for the dead guy and his family.
But if the suspect is guilty, then it’s tragic for him too. Geez, look at the guy. He is/was apparently handsome, hard working, ambitious, intelligent, wealthy and successful, lived here 16 years and worked his way up to CEO…with a beautiful woman hanging on his arm. Life must have been grand. Plus, he is/was successful in legal, legitimate, socially respectable ways, unlike the Rhodesian guy. And he’s still young. Who knows how much higher he can (could have) gone?
Then, if the facts are as alleged – BAM!!! — in one instant, one moment of bad judgment, everything is completely, permanently ripped away from him, all that terrific mountain of success that he worked so hard to climb up has been pulled from below and he plummets into a chasm of panic, despair, horror and hopelessness.
How would YOU respond in that crisis situation? Can you positively guarantee you would respond honestly, honorably, humbly accepting your devastating fate, the loss of decades of hard work and outstanding results and submit to the ghastly consequences? Are you absolutely certain you wouldn’t question for just a moment whether, holy shit, maybe if I just. . . . maybe I can escape the horror. . . ?
I know I can’t make that guarantee. Of course the primary tragedy is for the dead guy and his family, but if the suspect did as alleged, I can definitely understand how he might have panicked and frantically, in the stunned, drunken, horrific, shocking moments afterwards, searched desperately for a way out.
[/quote]
Yah absolutely and honestly there is no way that I would leave the scene of an accident. Not until hell froze over. I can positively say “No”
As for leaving a woman to die no way. Call the ambulance do your best, help the family. Running away is low down granted maybe he panicked but then trying to scrap the evidence makes it worse. This has not been to court yet but if guilty then yes I humbly disagree with you I think he acted like a “real wanker” at that time even if he wasn’t previously to that. Someone died and a family is grieving today as for loss of his job that does not compare to loss of life.
I am not trying to be high and mighty with that reply as I have done many wrong things myself however there is no way I’d leave someone dying or dead on the street and then attempt to get rid of evidence. I agree it is a tragedy for this Zain guy but lets not forget someone is dead their life is gone and the news says they were the sole bread winner for the family.(if that is true it makes it even worse).
When we are not in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to say we would act responsibly and rationally. I am not condoning hit-and-run under any circumstances, fear and panic can toss clear thinking out the door.
It’s easy to say that when you’re calm, sober and it’s all just a hypothetical discussion. It’s a different matter when it’s reality, decades of hard work are about to amount to nothing, you’re faced with death and imprisonment and, especially, you’re drunk, tired, panicked, literally in a state of shock and forced to make an instant decision with potentially monumental consequences.
Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps you would do the right thing. But I don’t believe one can be so certain how one would react when merely sitting there all comfy and secure and it’s all just bullshitting about a hypothetical situation. When drunk, exhausted, shocked, panicked, with ones life dependent on an instant decision, I still believe a person might act differently from how they might have expected/hoped they would have.
EDIT: yes, Craig, agreed.
The general gist of the reports is that he was driving drunk, speeding, fled the scene of an evidently fatal accident, acted defiantly when confronted by the police, and displayed no remorse. The TV news has been particularly focusing on the man’s bad attitude after his arrest.
If all of those facts are correct, he deserves to receive a custodial sentence. Whether or not he spends time inside (he certainly would in the UK, but may be able to avoid it here), he’ll have to pay the victim’s family a very large amount of compensation, perhaps around NT$10 million, which apparently he can well afford.
Yes. I know the man well. He’s in for a world of trouble if he’s responsible for this accident.
Yes. I know the man well. He’s in for a world of trouble if he’s responsible for this accident.[/quote]
Well as he is a friend of many people on this forum I should not of called the guy a wanker as it may cause offense and was wrong to say that at a time like this.
I retract and apologize for that.
@MT I am 99% certain I would NOT run from an accident but yeah you are right panic can make people act in way we normally would not I agree.
But wait, if he had not run away but called the ambulance, the victim might still be alive today. Yes, I’d be very tempted to run, very tempted.But his actions killed another person.
Anyway, his life won’t be ruined, just may end up a lot poorer for compensation to the family.
I admire your certitude.
But it’s not a question of panic causing us to act in a way we normally wouldn’t, but even more fundamentally, under extreme panic and duress, we do not think clearly. Your certitude is with a clear mind, but under similar circumstances, I wonder how clearly you would be thinking.
the only way i would run is if i was certain i was going to be lynched right on the spot. But i would drive right over to a police station.
I’m not going to speak in favor of the driver but there are a few things to consider, yes he was drunk, maybe he was driving … but, did you ever think about the victim? What was the cause of death, head injury? Was he/she wearing a helmet, was it fastened … having seen paper delivery people drive around the street, they just weave in and out from parked cars without even watching traffic … so, it should be considered that the victim himself caused the accident … Does it matter? Yes, it does.
The driver, drunk or not could have been surprised by a scooter driver just changing lanes without warning … yes, drunk driving is an offense, but in this case it’s not proven that he was driving … but fleeing the scene is not to be condoned.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]I’m not going to speak in favor of the driver but there are a few things to consider, yes he was drunk, maybe he was driving … but, did you ever think about the victim? What was the cause of death, head injury? Was he/she wearing a helmet, was it fastened … having seen paper delivery people drive around the street, they just weave in and out from parked cars without even watching traffic … so, it should be considered that the victim himself caused the accident … Does it matter? Yes, it does.
The driver, drunk or not could have been surprised by a scooter driver just changing lanes without warning … yes, drunk driving is an offense, but in this case it’s not proven that he was driving [/quote]
I agree with the angle you’re exploring here. I suggested this kind of scenario back when we were discussing that ‘drunk driving causing death accident’ from a few years back when that Taiwanese celebrity type struck and killed a nurse on a rainy day on Nan-Jing E. Rd. in Taipei at 5am. The nurse (on scooter) made an abrupt illegal left turn from the scooter lane across several lanes of traffic and was struck from behind. I’m not excusing the drunk driver by any means, but there are sometimes other circumstances that play into accidents here on Taiwan’s dangerous roads.
Nobody said he was white, they said he was English… Thats a normal term for UK Nationals.
But the news report said he bought a ticket to leave Taiwan after the accident and tried to have the car junked when it could have been repaired.[/quote]
I only pointed this out because the OP was worried about being mistaken for this guy. Otherwise yeah totally irrelevant. Whichever way you spin this its looks pretty bad for the guy…
If ANY of them are correct, which I doubt, given the local media. 
Doesn’t sound like the Zain I’ve known for the last decade or more.
Plus, as maoman pointed out, he announced a couple of weeks ago that he was leaving Taiwan for good. I know this because I still have the email in which he gave me first refusal on his Yamaha 600.
State of the media here is an utter disgrace.
And he’s a Scot, not a goddamn Englishee.