_{Photo: Ziuhuan Chen, charged}

BELIZE CITY, Fri. July 12, 2024

Tonight, a Chinese businessman of Freetown Road is out on bail after he was dragged to court to answer for three traffic offenses after he was accused of running a red light at the corner of Freetown Road and Douglas Jones Street in Belize City on his way home earlier this morning.

This afternoon at around 2:00 p.m. 32-year-old Ziuhuan Chen, a resident of #124 Freetown Road and the owner of a business on Freetown Road, Belize City, was unrepresented when he appeared in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Coney Drive, where, at around 2:30 p.m., he was taken into Court #2 to be read charges for three traffic offenses.

But before the charges could be read to him, the Prosecutor, Sgt. Christopher Smith, withdrew one of the 3 charges, the charge of failure to produce a driver’s license.

Chen was provided with a translator, who was the Chairman of the Chinese Association.

Through his translator, Chen told the court that he has a driver’s license, but that it was in his vehicle, which he had no access to, since it had been impounded by police.

It seems that the police had charged the defendant for the offense before first allowing him time to present his driver’s license, although the law states that a person has 24 hours to retrieve and present their documents upon request; and so that charge was withdrawn by the Prosecution, leaving Chen to answer to only two other charges: one count of failure to provide specimen, and one count of failure to conform to an electronic traffic signal.

Allegations are that earlier today, Friday, July 12, 2024, in the course of an investigation, Chen committed an offense under Section 74 or 75 of the Motor Vehicle & Road Traffic Act, Chapter 230, which refers to him driving under the influence of drugs or driving under the influence of alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit. It is also alleged that Cpl. Carlin Sinclair requested that he provide a specimen of blood for a laboratory test, and without reasonable excuse, he failed to provide the specimen of blood when required to do so.

In regard to the other offense, it is alleged that today, at the intersection of Freetown Road and Douglas Jones Street, Chen, who was driving a black Ford F-150 with license plate OWC-17556, did not stop the vehicle when the electronic traffic signal at the intersection was red.

Chen pleaded not guilty to the other two charges and told the court that when the officer told him of the offense, he didn’t quite understand what the officer was telling him, so he asked the officer to call someone to translate for him, but his request was denied.

As it related to failure to conform to a traffic signal, Chen told the court that it was not until he reached home that the officer, who was driving behind him, told him that he had committed a traffic offense.

The police are saying that Chen “ran” the light when it was red, but Chen disagreed with the police’s claims.

Since there was no objection to bail, the sitting Senior Magistrate offered Chen bail in the sum of $500 plus one surety of the same amount, which he met at 3:45 this afternoon.

Chen is due back in court on September 12, 2024, when disclosure is expected to be provided to him.