TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The brother of an Iraqi man whose wife and son were fatally struck on Tuesday (Dec. 27) issued a 5-point statement on Thursday (Dec. 29) condemning Taiwan's transportation authorities.
On Tuesday evening (Dec. 27), a family of three, including a 30-year-old Taiwanese woman surnamed Lee (李), a 32-year-old Iraqi man identified as Azeez, and their one-year-old son had gone out for a late meal at McDonald's but found it was closed. As they headed back home, they began to cross the street on a zebra crossing at the intersection of Yicai Road and Xueshi Road in Taichung City's North District.
However, the 53-year-old driver surnamed Chen (陳) of the Fengyuan Bus Transportation Co. Route 280 bus, drove down Xueshi Road and allegedly failed to slow down to look for pedestrians as he turned left onto Yicai Road, immediately striking all three family members. Azeez suffered minor injuries, but Lee and their son were fatally struck.
Azeez claims it took 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive from China Medical University Hospital, which was only 400 meters away. Chen Wei-kung (陳維恭), the director of the Emergency Department of the Emergency and Trauma Center at the hospital was cited by ETtoday as saying that although the mother and son had no obvious trauma to the head, they had suffered multiple abrasions and bruises on the torso.
According to Chen, the abdomen, liver, spleen, and other organs of the victims suffered massive hemorrhaging, causing acute shock and impaired brainstem function. Chen said the team's efforts to save the mother and child were unsuccessful, and they were declared dead at 12:04 a.m on Wednesday morning (Dec. 28).
At the scene of the incident, the driver of the bus told Azeez and police officers that he did not see the family when he began to make his turn onto Yicai Road due to dim lighting at the scene. That afternoon, Chen went to the hospital to personally apologize to Lee's father and husband and in video of his apology, he could be seen bowing and kowtowing multiple times saying, "I'm very sorry. I know you are very sad because my own mother recently died, and I can understand your feelings."
In response, Azeez's brother posted a 5-point statement on Facebook in both English and Chinese at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. The brother addressed the post to authorities in charge of Taiwan's transportation companies, security agencies, and emergency departments.
The following is a summary of the five main points:
1. The author called on drivers to be better vetted for their patience and sense of responsibility when driving through Taiwan's crowded streets. He questioned why the driver of an empty bus was in such a rush, yet so slow to stop the bus after hitting the family.
2. Immediately after the accident occurred, the driver allegedly insisted to Azeez that he had not seen the family cross the street. The brother then pointed out that not only did the driver not slow down after hitting Azeez, but continued to hit his wife and their baby in a stroller.
3. Despite the fact that the accident took place only a few hundred meters away from China Medical University Hospital, the brother alleged that the ambulance took too long to arrive at the scene. He also wrote that given that it was late at night and the roads were not crowded, either the driver was slow to call for an ambulance or the emergency department "took their time."
4. The brother wrote that although the family was interviewed by many members of the media, he suspects Fengyuan Bus Company sent certain members of the media to "take this accident (in) another direction."
5. He then wrote that as the family was trying to cope with the tragedy, the "security department," probably the police, brought the suspect in front of the family to offer his apology. He wrote that, for the family, that was "totally against" their principles and found the driver's presence at the hospital to be a test of their patience and temper.
