Paralysis
On November 18, 1985, while with her husband on a trip to thank supporters after he lost the Tainan County mayoral election, the driver of a scratch-built farm vehicle ran over her three times. The driver, Chang Jong Ts'ai (張榮財), was a laborer known to local people as a supporter of Chen. At the time of the incident, Chang was beaten by one of Chen's campaign staff. Due to the seriousness of the accident, Chang was also imprisoned for a month. Chen later dropped the charge against him and accepted Chang's apology. This incident left Wu paralyzed and using a wheelchair.
Since Wu's ordeal, Chen and his supporters have often directly or indirectly referred to Chang as a hitman possibly hired by the Kuomintang to commit a political assassination, as occurred during the martial law era against the KMT's opponents. However, if the incident was really politically motivated by her husband's political rivals, then Chen, rather than Wu, should have been the target of political assassination. Even today, there is some controversy as to who was responsible for the episode, if it was an accident or an intentional attack.
Read more about this topic: Wu Shu-chen