Statement | "Performance Evaluation System Unreformed, Police Violence Not an Isolated Incident": Sanchong Police Assault Case Second-Instance Verdict Press Release
Last edited: 2026-11-08
In September 2022, two officers surnamed Weng and Chiang from the Yongfu Police Box of the New Taipei Sanchong Precinct, while on duty one evening, mistook a member of the public, Mr. Huang Lien-shun, for a wanted fugitive and arrested him, and after subduing him continued to attack him, causing serious injuries. Afterward, rather than reflecting on their conduct, they filed a criminal complaint for bodily injury against Mr. Huang. On June 25, 2024, the New Taipei District Court sentenced Officer Weng to five months' imprisonment for causing bodily injury by abusing his official position, and acquitted Huang Lien-shun of the bodily injury charge against him.
Today (April 22), ruling on the prosecutor's appeal, the Taiwan High Court upheld the first-instance findings of fact, convicting Officer Weng and acquitting Huang Lien-shun. The supporting groups welcome the outcome and, highlighting the systemic problems of police abuse of power exposed by the incident, call for swift reform.
Since this case occurred, incidents of improper and violent policing have continued to occur frequently. We believe that unless the National Police Agency of the Ministry of the Interior addresses the problem at the systemic level, even if the courts stand with the people, they cannot dispel the public's fear of police enforcement.
1. Sanchong Police Abuse of Power and Violence: The Victim Was Then Sued for Bodily Injury
The first-instance court's examination of the video footage shows that Officer Weng, in plain clothes and without identifying himself, so that the public could not recognize him as a police officer, mistook Huang Lien-shun for a fugitive surnamed Lee, put his hand on Huang's shoulder, and a struggle ensued.
After Officer Chiang arrived and the two officers pinned Huang to the ground, and with Huang no longer able to resist and not resisting, Officer Weng still cursed at him on the ground, "F*** your mother, f*** your mother, what the hell," sprayed pepper spray in his eyes, and then punched him in the face and body.
Later, other officers who arrived told them that Huang was not the fugitive they were looking for. But Officer Weng still insisted on handcuffing Huang, covered in injuries, by both hands and feet and taking him back to the station, where he even tried to drag Huang by forcefully yanking the handcuffs to pull him into the restroom to rinse his eyes. Afterward, Officer Weng also filed a criminal complaint for bodily injury against Huang.
2. With Abuses of Power Frequent, the National Police Agency Should Establish a Transparent Performance Management System
In recent years JRF has continually received complaints from the public about abusive policing and unlawful stops. All the signs prompt the question: where does this problem come from? It may stem from the enormous pressure created by an unlawful and unreasonable performance system, along with inadequate education and training. Studies have pointed out that external factors such as performance metrics are a major cause of police misconduct.1
A performance system should be neutral and serve as motivation, but reports of police abusing their powers unlawfully keep surfacing, and in practice the performance system has become a factor driving unlawful policing. The Control Yuan has pointed out that performance pressure has led police to "nurture cases, plant guns, and break rules," and that intensive investigations under performance pressure even caused a suspect to flee and accidentally drown.2 Clearly, unreasonable performance targets have distorted the very purpose of the performance system; instead of police acting as the people's protectors, the system has turned into a specter that violates people's rights. As the table below shows, incidents of police violence and improper enforcement have continued to occur since this case:
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# |
Date |
News Headline (links in Chinese) |
1 |
April 18, 2025 |
|
2 |
June 14, 2024 |
|
3 |
February 22, 2024 |
|
4 |
February 24, 2024 |
|
5 |
July 17, 2023 |
17-year-old wrongly arrested by police needs 17 stitches: "Left cheek as if sliced open by a blade" |
6 |
July 13, 2023 |
|
7 |
May 20, 2023 |
|
8 |
September 25, 2022 |
Innocent man beaten by Sanchong police who mistook him for a fugitive recounts the abuse |
Besides welcoming the second-instance court's affirmation of the first-instance judgment, the supporting groups call on the relevant authorities to promptly establish a "Police Performance Management Committee" so that officers no longer break the law in pursuit of performance targets and create more victims of police violence.
3. Facing "Wrongful Arrests," the National Police Agency Should Strengthen Police Education and Training
In this case, Huang Lien-shun, a victim of violent police enforcement, was even sued for bodily injury by the officer who beat him and indicted by the prosecutor. Both the first- and second-instance courts found that Huang had no intent to cause injury and acquitted him.
We believe that when an ordinary person is attacked and subdued by force by someone in plain clothes, they naturally cannot tell whether the attacker is a police officer or a violent thug, and may reasonably resist or defend themselves. Conversely, when arresting suspects, police may, depending on the situation, need to use force immediately in plain clothes to prevent escape and protect officers' safety. And because suspects commonly deny their identity, frontline officers cannot release their hold on someone simply because of what the person says.
Therefore, when police mistake a member of the public for a suspect and make an arrest, the person must endure improper infringement by public authority; if the enforcement stays within legal bounds, the officer bears no criminal liability. By the same token, a person's refusal or resistance, to a certain degree, is self-protection and likewise carries no criminal liability. But in this case and many others, we see police routinely threatening the public with "suing for bodily injury and obstructing public officials" to cover up their own earlier mistakes or illegal conduct. Huang Lien-shun is not the only victim of wrongful arrest followed by abusive enforcement: just last week in Kaohsiung, officers mistook a woman out for a walk for a fugitive, put her in a police car even after confirming the mistake, and threatened her at the station with "suing for bodily injury and obstructing public officials." The drama of abusive enforcement clearly continues to play out after Huang's case.
We therefore welcome the second-instance court's affirmation of the first-instance acquittal, and call on prosecutors, in similar cases, not to follow the police's lead or indict members of the public whose refusal or resistance stays within reasonable bounds. Finally, we call on police agencies to implement proper education and training and improve how officers respond when they have made a wrongful arrest, so that this case's "compounding error with error" does not happen again.
1 Lin Yu-chao, A Study of the Relationship Between Police Performance Culture and Police Misconduct, master's thesis, Graduate Institute of Police Policy, Central Police University, pp. 42-43, 2024.
2 Control Yuan website, "Heavy Project Performance Pressure on Frontline Officers Leads to Gun Planting, Case Nurturing, and Many Violations: Control Yuan Issues Corrective Measures Against the National Police Agency and Taoyuan City Police Department" (in Chinese; last accessed April 18, 2025)
Attendees
Huang Lien-shun | Party in this case
Huang Hung-sheng | Attorney for the party in this case
Hsu Wei-chun | Associate Professor, Department of Financial and Economic Law, College of Law, Chung Yuan Christian University
Wang Hsi | Deputy Secretary-General, Taiwan Association for Human Rights
References
- Taiwan New Taipei District Court Criminal Judgment 112-Yi No. 1202
- Statement | Police Violence Without Remorse, Performance System Must Be Reviewed Swiftly — Press Conference on the Judgment in the Sanchong Police Assault Case
Press Contact
Attorney Lu Cheng-yen, Director, Legal Policy Department, Judicial Reform Foundation
Tel: 02-2523-1178 ext. 37
Email: elvin@jrf.org.tw
This article is an AI-generated translation of the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.
