TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- A foreign English teacher on Saturday was seen at a Taipei MRT station kicking an elderly woman's suitcase, swearing at her and then cursing and making a vulgar gesture at a Taiwanese man who asked that he apologized.

On May 5 at around 5 p.m., a 44-year-old man surnamed Huang witnessed a foreign national at the Ximen MRT station wearing a baseball cap and tattoos on his arms kick the suitcase of a woman in her 60s that was in his path at the bottom of an escalator. Huang says that the man then cursed the woman in English.

Huang says that he then asked the man to apologize, but the man responded by saying "It's none of your business." When Huang asked him again, the man said "F**k you Chinese," and as he waited behind a large crowd of people to get on the next escalator down, he shouted "F**k all you Chinese" and thrust his middle finger at Huang.



Huang (left), Brian (right). (Photo from 我們是新店人!! 好山好水，就是愛新店 Facebook group)

Huang then posted his encounter with the foreign national on a Facebook group about New Taipei City's Xindian District (我們是新店人!! 好山好水，就是愛新店) and a user surnamed Yeh (葉) posted images of the man making the insulting gesture at Huang. Video of the incident soon emerged as well.

The man was later found to be an English teacher currently living in Taiwan and was identified by Apple Daily by his first name "Brian." On Sunday (May 6), Huang went to the Ximen MRT Police Department to press charges for public insulting.

After viewing surveillance video of the incident, police were able to identify the man, locate his whereabouts and then requested he come in for questioning. As Brian neared the police station, he declined to make a comment on the incident to reporters awaiting his arrival.

Once at the station, Brian expressed to police his willingness to reconcile with Huang, but Huang insisted on pressing charges because "The dignity of the Taiwanese people should not be trampled upon," and that "He lied about his actions that day. I don't think he is sincere about reconciling."

Huang also added, "This English teacher who is so unfriendly to Taiwanese people comes to Taiwan to teach our children English, I am very worried."

The case will now enter the judicial process.

Article 309 of Taiwan's Criminal Code states:

"A person who publicly insults another shall be sentenced to short-term imprisonment or a fine of not more than three hundred yuan.



A person who by violence commits an offense specified in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year, short-term imprisonment, or a fine of not more than five hundred yuan."

However, a prosecutor told the media in February of this year that the penalty can be as high as 59 days in jail or a fine of up to NT$9,000 (US$300).



Huang (left), Brian (right). (Photo from 我們是新店人!! 好山好水，就是愛新店 Facebook group)