• Kayleigh Madjar / Writer, CNA

The Taichung District Court today approved the detention of an 18-year-old unlicensed driver who police suspected of driving under the influence of drugs in a hit-and-run incident that resulted in the death of one person yesterday morning.

The Taichung City Fire Bureau said it received a call at 9:05 a.m. yesterday reporting that a pedestrian had been hit on Beitun Road, Lane 240, Beitun District (北屯).

Emergency personnel arrived at the scene and found a male victim in his 70s suffering from a heart attack.

Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times

Efforts to save him were unsuccessful and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital, the bureau said.

The Fifth District of the Taichung Police Department said the driver fled the scene but was arrested about 15 minutes later after crashing his car into an electrical distribution box at the intersection of Taiyuan Road and Huanzhong E Road.

The 18-year-old driver named Pai (白) told police that he was not aware that he had hit anyone.

The district said the man did not have a driver’s license but was driving a BMW sedan that he claimed was rented by a family member.

Pai initially passed a breathalyzer test, but during questioning he admitted to taking ketamine the day before, police said, adding that investigators found an unidentified powder in his vehicle, adding that they were awaiting the results of a urine test.

The court said that, considering the gravity of the suspected crimes, it was necessary to detain the suspect, although there was no need to keep him incommunicado.