Two migrant workers feel wronged. Photo by reporter Yang Qin.
Two migrant workers were mistakenly identified as phone thieves and handcuffed; on-site surveillance cameras proved their innocence.
They still feel wronged: "Without asking, they just put the handcuffs on us?"
"Could we have escaped with seven or eight people surrounding us?"
"If we were really thieves, we would have run away long ago!"
According to our newspaper (reporter Shien-Wei Shi and intern Yufei Liao), while casually sitting by the roadside, two migrant workers were suddenly surrounded by a group of security officers, then handcuffed by police officers and taken to the police station in confusion. Yesterday morning, near a newsstand at No. North Industrial Avenue, due to being pointed out by students as having stolen a phone, migrant workers Xiao-Ming Liao and Fu-Yang Li experienced such an incident. After confirming the mistake, although the police station leadership sincerely apologized, the two still felt wronged.
Handcuffed and searched without understanding why
Xiao-Ming Liao, 37, and Fu-Yang Li, 57, came to work at the Metro construction site at North Industrial Avenue's Mei Yuan Station a month ago. Around 7:00 AM yesterday, the two were sitting beside a newsstand on North Industrial Avenue waiting to buy a newspaper. There were five surveillance cameras located several meters north and south.
At this moment, a policeman riding a motorcycle and seven or eight security officers on bicycles quietly dismounted behind them. "A group of people suddenly surrounded us, and the policeman said nothing before using handcuffs to lock my right hand with his right hand," Li recounted. Immediately after, the security officers proceeded to search them, taking out Liao’s wallet and mobile phone, as well as Li’s two lighters and small fruit knife.
Surveillance video proved their innocence
Miss Li, the newsstand owner, saw a sixteen or seventeen-year-old middle school student and his mother standing next to the policeman loudly saying, "It was them, it was them." The gist was that the boy had lost his phone and suspected these two stole it. "It probably wasn't them," she told the policeman, but it was futile.
Liao and Li were informed, "Everything will be sorted out at the police station." More than twenty minutes later, a police car arrived and took the two to the police station. After briefly questioning them, a policeman came to unlock the handcuffs. "The policeman said that after reviewing the surveillance footage, it was confirmed that the thief wasn’t either of us," Xiao-Ming Liao said. They were handcuffed for about forty minutes in total.
Police officer: no issue with the law enforcement procedure
The female duty police officer stated to reporters that because there was someone pointing them out, so Liao and Li were brought back to the police station to gather more information. Once it was discovered that they had made a mistake, they immediately released the two, stating that there was no problem with the law enforcement procedures. Xiao-Ming Liao also mentioned that subsequently, a deputy station chief from the police station represented the police force to apologize to the two, "with a very sincere attitude."
The two still feel wronged, "Isn't this discrimination against us migrant workers from other places?"