Taiwan cab driver drives passengers with a corpse in front seat

Dec 20, 2008, 12:07 GMT

Taipei - A Taiwan taxi driver drove passengers around for a day with a corpse sitting in his front seat, a Taiwanese television report said Saturday.

According to cable TV channel TVBS the taxi driver, identified only as Wang, picked up his drug addict friend Kuo Chun-chieh in their home region of Changhwa County, west Taiwan, at about 10 pm Wednesday.

Kuo, 35, was drunk and asked Wang to drive him to Lukang to see a friend. From his friend's home, Kuo picked up a parcel, got back into the taxi, and asked Wang to drive him to Taichung City.

Sitting in the front seat beside the driver, Kuo then injected himself in the arm and passed out. Wang, believing Kuo was 'sleeping' in the front seat, drove the taxi home, leaving Kuo inside.

Next morning, seeing Kuo was still 'sleeping,' he drove the taxi around and picked up several passengers during the day with Kuo slumped in the front seat, the television report said.

It was not until about 10 pm Thursday that Wang, having at some point realized Kuo was dead, drove to a police station to report the death.

An autopsy showed Friday that Kuo had died from a drug overdose. However, police said they found it hard to believe Wang did not know Kuo was already dead when he drove the body around for a whole day.