From Chinese Press

Run-over case cries for justice

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-17 07:42
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A man driving a BMW knocked down a 3-year-old boy and ran over him four times in Xinyi, Jiangsu province, recently. The tragedy has been caught on a surveillance video, and the victims' family has accused the driver of killing the boy intentionally. Yet local investigators say the driver had no motive for killing the boy, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

The death of the 3-year-old boy in Xinyi is an unusual case, for the BMW ran over him not once, not twice but four times.

The surveillance video shows the boy playing behind the parked car when the driver backs it, knocking him down. The boy is on the ground, kicking his legs and screaming for help when the car stops for moment.

But instead of helping the boy, the driver rears the car again, running over him with the left rear wheel.

Three seconds later, the car jolts forward, running over the victim a second time.

Five seconds after that, the driver stops the car and gets out, but the empty car continues to roll backward and its left rear wheel runs over the boy again.

And six seconds later, the car moves forward once more and its left front wheel runs over the boy for the fourth time.

The driver then sees the boy lying in a pool of blood and leaves the site nonchalantly.

The public has questioned the intention of the driver and demanded that he get appropriate punishment. Before the investigation and trial are over, one cannot say whether it is a case of death caused by accident or murder.

But local investigators have already jumped to the conclusion that the driver had no motive for killing the boy, for he "did not hold a grudge" against him or his family.

Their conclusion is unjustified, because in many cases of intentional killing, convicts do not know the victims.

Besides, the motive could be immediate. This is understandable because killing a person by running him/her over with a car would entail a one-time compensation, while causing injury could mean paying enormous amounts continuously as medical expenses to the victim.

A driver probably would have to pay compensation to a physically disabled victim for the rest of his/her life. Do indifferent and heartless people need a greater motive?

(China Daily 09/17/2010 page9)