I’m a foreigner and over the weekend I was attacked and assaulted by another foreigner outside of some bars in Xinyi. The cops were nearby and separated us and called an ambulance. I was continually asked if I wanted to sue but not if I wanted to press charges.
Long story short, I took the ambulance to the hospital where I received 3 stitches on the inside of my mouth and suffered several cuts and bruises. I then went to the police station where they took my statement and I asked that a criminal investigation be started but they didn’t seem to care. They told me that I would need to obtain security footage of the attack for them to do anything. My local friend asked them isn’t that their job and they simply shrugged their shoulders.
Most of my local friends have recommended that I sue him for an unprovoked attack and causing bodily harm. My Chinese language skills are poor and would need an english speaking lawyer. Any recommendations on lawyers or steps to take next? I’m not too concerned about the money but I’m more interesting in making sure that he’s punished for his crime. Thanks for reading.
I have a difficult time believing that’s the whole story as well. You can probably win the case if you obtain the footage. It doesn’t record voice so you only see who attacked who assuming he made physical contact first.
Forgive me if I’m wrong. But in my 2 years of working in the entertainment industry here. Hosting and promoting events at bars, clubs, arenas. I’ve never seen a person attack another just randomly. I’ve met only few people in my life that just willingly attack and fight someone even if they say they will. 99% of people don’t actually want a physical fight, and rightly so. Usually there’s some words and also some light physical exchanges before someones pride is hurt enough for them to actually fight. They might be in the wrong but my instinct when I hear your story is that you’re omitting some information.
I mean you could’ve brushed up against him, hit on his girl or something really trivial that he overreacted to and attacked you. But to say unprovoked, throws up a red flag for me.
Your best bet is to obtain the footage if you want to press charges. And you can pretty easily google lawyers here that can help you. I’m just not personally sold on referring you to people I know.
I am also not legally qualified to respond, but I shall anyway:
My take on most legal situations in Taiwan is the objective is to secure harmony without entering the legal system. I’m not entirely sure that it matters who is right or wrong - it’s more a case of somebody got hurt, compensate him and shut this down ASAP. My guess would be that when you were asked if you wanted to sue it was presumed that some kind of compensation would have been negotiated.
I have a strong feeling that you are now highly unlikely to obtain the justice you think you deserve. Of course, there will be any number of lawyers who will be happy to take your money to pursue this, windmill or otherwise.
but this bell-end just attacked you for absolutely no reason??
Sorry for the delay, I was away in class. In a sense, yes. I’ll go into the story since you’ve asked.
I was talking with some friends outside of the clubs and he came up to our group and started babbling. Words were coming out but they weren’t making much sense, so instead of entertain him, I told him to leave us alone and I turned my back on him. He then pushed me from behind and I got in his face about laying hands on me, but at no point did I touch him.
I then backed off and went back to my group of friends while he continued to harass me. He then yells at me “Are you a fucking faggot?” to which I responded, “Yes I am and I love sucking dick. You have a problem with that?” He responded by slugging me in the face and took a few swings at my friends while saying shit like we don’t belong here and to go back to our own country. When he took another swing at me I grabbed his collar and he fell on top of me onto the ground where I think he cut his head on a scooter and bled all over me. I held him on the ground until the cops came.
So from my perspective, yes, it was an unprovoked attack. He was the aggressor in the sense that he came up to us, harassed us, and used physical contact on two occasions. While getting in his face may have been what he wanted - a reaction, but at no point did I or anyone else touch him.
In this case, get the footage fast from the club or bar. If he initiated contact and continue to do so and even seen shouting at you, which you could always say he was being threatening. I assume the police took him in? For drunk and disorderly? So you would have that on your side.
After we were separated we were there for 2 minutes or so before they put me in an ambulance. I don’t think he was ever charged as when we went to the police station around 3 hours after the attack they had no information about the fight but claimed it was likely due to the night officers not having returned yet.
My local friend was perplexed over why they were so blasé about the situation or seemed hesitant to do anything.
In any case, the paper I left with from the police says to check online in 2-3 days and pay $100NT for a copy of the report.
Yup, American. I’ll check out the link! A local friend called and said they had a lawyer friend that would represent me for 60,000NT. Said lawyer also said that most personal injury cases such as this one usually have payouts around 200k.
I’m not interested in the money, just interested in him being charged with the crime, which is apparently what would happen should the lawyer be involved. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’ll do some more research at the police station.
You can take it for granted that the first part of that equation is written in stone, but I’m pretty skeptical about the second part. For one thing, even if you win and that turns out to be the payout–not sure based on what as your injuries seem to be minor–what if the guy has no money. You could be chasing that for a long time. I doubt this is a good investment personally. Maybe someone else here has some more concrete experience.
I’m not interested in the money, just interested in him being charged with the crime, which is apparently what would happen should the lawyer be involved. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I’ll do some more research at the police station.
Depending on the content of the police report, I don’t see why you can’t press charges if you want, lawyer or no.
You pretty much have to go totally apeshit before the police get excited about anything here.
I too doubt that I’d ever get anywhere near enough to pay off the lawyer and some additional in the end. I told my friend that I’d think about it since 60k NT is a lot of money to go after someone who you’re hoping is still around and can afford that (likely I’d assume they’d leave which would be ideal). No idea how collections are handled here in Taiwan - I’ve heard of wage garnishment but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
If your income and assets are low enough, you can ask the Legal Aid Foundation to take on your case.
www.laf.org.tw
Even if you’re “rich”, you can still make an appointment for a brief consultation with one of their lawyers, for free. Last time I checked the “English speaking” ones in Taipei were only available on Saturdays, but the level of English is variable.
There are also free lawyers available for brief consultations at Taipei City Hall Mon-Fri (appointment needed when busy), if you have a friend who can translate.
If the police continue to refuse to co-operate, there is a procedure whereby a court can order the surveillance footage to be preserved, but you should ask a lawyer to handle that.
Don’t lose any receipts or other records for your medical treatment, of course.