Airport police fire 8 shots during arrest of illegal ride share driver

Taoyuan, Sept. 20 (CNA) Two Aviation Police Bureau (APB) officers discharged eight shots Saturday morning while arresting a ride share driver suspected of picking up passengers illegally at Taoyuan International Airport, the bureau said.

While no one was injured or killed as a result of the shots, the APB reported that a Hong Kong passenger picked up by the suspect during the arrest was flung out of the vehicle in question.

The passenger, identified as a woman surnamed Lee (李), was subsequently taken to Taoyuan's Min-Sheng General Hospital for medical treatment following the incident.

The APB said the incident transpired at around 9:10 a.m. near the passenger pickup zone of Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 when officers of the bureau's Security Inspection Brigade noticed a rented white Tesla soliciting Lee.

Officers surnamed Hung (洪) and Chou (周) then approached the driver, who was later identified as a 43-year-old repeat offender surnamed Tsai (蔡).

After being stopped, Tsai refused to cooperate and tried to quickly maneuver away from the police before Lee could close the door on the passenger side of the rented Tesla.

Lee was thrown out of the car and then almost run over by the Telsa as it tried to avoid the police car, but she was fortunately pulled to safety thanks to the assistance of nearby onlookers.

During his maneuvering, Tsai nearly hit a responding officer and a police vehicle with his Tesla and then pulled away in the opposite direction, prompting police to fire warning shots into the air and then targeting the back wheels of the Tesla to prevent Tsai from fleeing.

After eight shots were fired, causing the Tesla to stop, the APB said officers dragged Tsai out of the driver's seat before arresting him for endangering public safety.

For the sake of public safety, fair business practices and traffic congestion, it is illegal for any commercial or private drivers that are not on the roster of Taoyuan Airport's taxi fleet to solicit and pick up customers.

Prior to Saturday's incident, a Spanish tourist jumped out of a moving car near Terminal 2 of Taoyuan Airport on the evening of June 5 after the driver tried to flee from airport police while under suspicion of picking up passengers illegally.