Railway cop stabbed to death by fare-evading passenger
An officer from the Railway Police Bureau died in hospital today after being stabbed by a man traveling on a train without a ticket last night in Chiayi City.
Officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰), just 8 days shy of his 25th birthday, boarded limited express train 152 at Chiayi Station at 8:42pm, after the conductor reported an unruly passenger without a ticket who refused to alight from the train.
While Lee attempted to get the 54-year-old passenger named Zheng (鄭) off the train, Zheng, who witnesses described as “out of control” suddenly pulled out a 20-centimeter-long fruit knife and stabbed Lee in the abdomen.
Despite a 5-centimeter-long knife wound, Lee continued to struggle with Zheng, until with the help of two male railway staff and a male passenger, Zheng was finally restrained. Lee then collapsed.
Lee was rushed to Chiayi Christian Hospital, but had lost vital signs by the time he arrived at the emergency department at 9:10pm.
Medical staff managed to restore vital signs, and during the night, Lee underwent emergency surgery and a series of blood transfusions to a total of more than 10,000cc. Lee had suffered a ruptured liver and severed veins causing massive hemorrhage.
With the surgery completed at around 4:00am, Lee was transferred to the intensive care unit.
However, Lee lost vital signs again at around 7:30am, and was declared dead at 8:27am.
Zheng had boarded the northbound train at Tainan Station, and became belligerent when the conductor asked him to show a ticket. After his arrest, Zheng was found to be in possession of two fruit knives, but was uncooperative during questioning, and would not explain why he was carrying knives on the train.
Zheng’s distraught wife apologized in front of media after learning of her husband’s crime. Ms Zheng explained that both her and her husband suffered from depression, but Mr Zheng had stopped taking his medication, and had gone missing yesterday.
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Sources: Central News Agency, United Daily News.
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