Long story short - I was walking home with the family this evening when a drunk guy decided he didn’t like ‘fucking foreigners’ and decided it would be a good idea to hit me. Like I said, he was drunk and I dodged it by stepping aside, with him ending on his back. Of course, this really got him excited as he ‘is Taiwan people’ and I ‘cannot touch’ him. I spotted a chain fast food place, stepped inside, asked them to call the police and waited while he ranted, intermittently trying to punch/slap me and the two other guys who tried to intervene. I have ~17 minutes of this on video, one of the guys in the restaurant said he was passing by and saw the entire incident and, I’m assuming, the restaurant and street both have security cameras.
Of course when the police arrived, he decided that he wanted to punch and kick them as well which left him face down in handcuffs and, eventually, in the back of a police SUV.
The police say that they can’t really do much outside of holding him until he sobers up but are asking me if I would sue so they can lock him up longer. I gave the police my contact details, simply making the request that they promise the assailant not learn any of the info. I did ask what ‘suing’ would require and they did say I would need to appear in court and the assailant would learn my name/details, etc. This doesn’t sound like a good deal for me in any way, shape or form but the police said that a local person would sue in my situation 9 times out of 10.
Am I missing something? Is there any advantage to pressing charges? The guy is going to wake up missing a shoe in a drunk tank in the morning and, I would hope, hitting a police officer would bring charges of their own but I’ve never been in such a situation before.
Everything seems to boil down to sueing in Taiwan. Do they police have any power here at all? The law never seems to do anything inless you actually kill somebody.
Do you guys remember the wacko who tried to grab a little girl from his mother’s side in Neihu? He was released a few days back, in his old neighborhood, and all the neighbors are terrified for their kids. All the cops can do though is drop by occasionally to see if everything is all right. Laws here are weird and unless their definition of serious is debatable.
In OPs case, who knows what the drunk guy would have done, how he could play it out and the whole situation could have become him coming off as an attacker not a victim. It was a great idea to go to a public place with cameras. Locals mostly due for money. Deterrent it is not.
So, this is the same situation everywhere. You think in the us you can be state witness without your name and other details being public record?
Or are you saying you would want to anonymously make accusations against this guy, and this guy wouldn’t be able to know who is making the accusations ?
If someone wanted to fuck with you, they don’t need to win a single case. Just rain down litigation from every way possible and waste your time dragging you through court and drowning you in legal fees.
He was pursuing us and trying to run in front of us, blocking our path and screaming. I saw the restaurant and decided it was best to have witnesses, if nothing else.
I re-watched the video a few moments ago and it’s fairly 100% that he was the aggressor. He even dropped a few f-bombs in my direction which, as everybody knows, is worse than physical assault.
The police did say that I have six months to visit a doctor and determine if I have any injuries but I’m a bit surprised that is the deciding factor if this is a crime. When the police did ask if I wanted to sue, I kept saying that he (the assailant) hit them (the police) harder than he hit me but, I guess, hitting police isn’t a problem?
Are you clear that they said they won’t do anything? They can not question him intoxicated under the influence or it won’t hold in court. Are you sure they are not saying they can’t do anything until he sobers up?
The op seems to be worried about his personal details becoming public/know to the perp.
Obviously the cops cannot press charges unless there is a victim, and for there to be a victim the victim must be specified ie the OPs details must be on record which is shared with the perp
Also, I doubt the victim must press charges as the op is saying. But, the victim must cooperate and the op doesn’t seem to want to do that
They said that if I went to the doctor, I could press charges and, if I did it this evening, they could keep him in jail ‘longer’. I said that I’m not spending days in court or giving this guy my name and details so won’t be pressing charges and the police gave me their contact details and said if I have any injuries or pain related to this in the next six month to contact them.
They did say that if I don’t press charges, they will keep him in the station until he sobers up. Thinking back, they didn’t specifically say that they wouldn’t do anything to him for public disturbance or striking them but I wouldn’t expect them to share this info with me either way.
In legal terms. Assault is just threats of violence and harm from words or actions. Battery is actual harm. Saying fuck you falls under insult tort laws in Taiwan I believe. Did he physically harm you? He can face both assault and battery and also insult charges from you in a civil lawsuit. He can also face assault and battery in criminal charges.
This is my understanding of the laws unless someone knows better
He sucker punched me but I saw it coming and it didn’t really connect. If I feel anything in the morning I’ll have it checked out but I’m not overly concerned with the physical harm and it’s more the ranting and raving against ‘foreigners’ and the fixation on me that I suppose I’m not comfortable with. I only requested the police be called because he was screaming (out on the street) that he’s calling the police on me for hitting him (parrying a shove - on video).
I have no idea how to contact a lawyer for this sort of thing but will tuck the videos away for self-keeping if anything comes of it. I appreciate the advice.
I may be a bit off-base here, but AFAIK there is no equivalent of the State vs. John Doe in Taiwan - or if there is, it’s only deployed if the victim is the State. The victim must push the prosecution forward. I suspect the police get quite fed up with this sort of thing and would be happy to help you do that. But yes, as others have mentioned, you will have to stand up in court and be identified, which is a fairly basic component of most (functioning) legal systems.
