Be careful not to swing your hiking stick wildly while climbing mountains. A man surnamed Qiu was hiking on the Zhongyong Mountain Trail in Neihu District on the afternoon of June 28 this year when his walking stick accidentally brushed against a female hiker who was passing by. The incident was misconstrued as Qiu pinching the woman’s hip. The female hiker did not speak up at the time, but after going home, she felt increasingly uncomfortable and angrily filed a sexual harassment complaint at the police station.
Qiu only learned about the complaint when he received a notice from the police station and protested his innocence. Qiu’s wife, who had accompanied him on the hike, also appeared in court to clarify that the two were hiking together, with her walking behind. She saw that her husband was holding a walking stick in his right hand and had no “capacity” whatsoever to pinch someone else’s hip. She speculated that the walking stick had accidentally brushed against the woman, leading her to mistakenly interpret the resulting sting as a pinch. After an investigation, the prosecutor’s office found no concrete evidence and decided not to press charges.
(China Times)