Police to question driver who swiped baby stroller, drove off

New Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) New Taipei police on Monday said they had summoned for questioning a driver who hit the front of a stroller carrying a baby in a crosswalk, and then drove off in the city's Xindian District.

In a video of the accident posted on Threads on Sunday, a Toyota sedan is seen driving through a crosswalk and striking the front end of a stroller, throttling it 45 degrees to the side, and then continuing on its way.

In a statement issued Monday, the New Taipei City Police Department's Xindian Precinct said the accident occurred at around 3 p.m. Sunday, as a woman and baby were crossing a crosswalk on Xinwu Road Section 1 at its intersection with Xinwu Road Lane 11.

After striking the front of the stroller, the driver promptly left the scene without exiting the vehicle to check what had been hit. Neither the woman pushing the stroller, surnamed Lin (林), nor the baby was seriously injured, police said.

In the hours following the accident, Lin, 62, began to feel pain in her shoulder, and on Monday she reported the accident to police and had her injury examined by a doctor. She is expected to give a formal statement to police on Tuesday, the precinct said.

After running the vehicle's license plates, officers summoned the driver for questioning on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident, police said.

In the statement, police said failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk is punishable by a fine of between NT$1,200 (US$38.49) and NT$6,000.

In accidents where a pedestrian in a crosswalk is injured or killed, drivers can be fined from NT$7,200 to NT$36,000, and can have their license suspended for a year in the case of injury or revoked in the case of a pedestrian's death, police said.

Under the Criminal Code, fleeing the scene of an accident in which a person is injured is punishable by a sentence ranging from 6 months to 5 years in prison.