Taiwanese officer jailed for falsifying accident report

A police officer in Miaoli, Taiwan, has been sentenced to one year in prison for falsifying official documents after fabricating a traffic accident report. The officer, identified by the surname Dai, was found guilty of using his public position to enter false information into police records to expedite case closure.

The incident occurred on the evening of September 17, 2023, when Officer Dai and a colleague responded to a motorcycle accident. At the scene, they found the rider injured and receiving medical attention from paramedics. Unable to conduct an alcohol test, Dai accompanied the injured rider to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Dai learned that the rider had refused further medical examination and had left. Instead of reporting this to his colleague, Dai returned to the police station and falsely recorded in the officer's work log and the 110 case reporting system that the case was being handled according to regulations pending a blood-alcohol test from the hospital. This false report was then submitted to his superiors.

During the trial, the Miaoli District Court discovered that Dai had a history of similar offenses. Between 2019 and April 2021, he had been convicted of three counts of using falsified public documents and one count of using altered public documents. He received a combined sentence of two years imprisonment, suspended for three years. His current conviction, committed while on probation for previous offenses, resulted in a one-year prison sentence without probation.