Outrage as Chinese street vendors run over and kill son, aged 4, while fleeing officers
PUBLISHED : Friday, 16 January, 2015, 2:14pm
UPDATED : Friday, 16 January, 2015, 2:46pm
Agence France-Presse
The Chinese couple weep over their son's body after he was crushed under the wheels of their truck as they tried to flee from city enforcement officers. Photo: Weibo
A Chinese couple selling fruit on the street accidentally ran over and killed their four-year-old son while trying to avoid city enforcement officers, state media reported today – prompting outrage online.
It is the latest public outcry involving chengguan, or urban management officers, who have gained particular notoriety among the Chinese public for abusing their powers while enforcing city laws.
Street vendors in China often operate without licences, and can be fined for doing so.
Crowds look on as the Chinese couple mourn the death of their four year old son in Hangzhou city. Photo: Weibo
When the fruit sellers in Zhejiang province’s Hangzhou city spotted four chengguan patrolling the neighbourhood yesterday they got in their truck to flee, accidentally running over their son, Channel 6 TV quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
A surveillance video aired by the Zhejiang provincial station showed the father, surnamed Liu, getting into the vehicle on the driver’s side while his son played on the ground, ahead of the front wheel on the passenger side.
As the chengguan chased other vendors around the street corner, the father began driving away, crushing his son under the wheel, the video showed.
“By the time I had passed by after work, the child had already passed away, and they were standing around crying,” one local man told the station.
A police statement cited by The Beijing News confirmed the incident yesterday and said that an investigation was ongoing.
Some users of China’s popular online social networks responded to the report with rage, questioning why vendors should be so fearful of chengguan.
“This is devastating. Why does China need chengguan in the first place?” one poster wrote on weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.
Others pointed the finger at the couple for not taking better care of their child.
“You really can’t blame the chengguan. The father cared only about himself and not his son,” wrote one.
Another added: “If you let your child run around all over the street every day, then tomorrow won’t he get run over by a car? This is entirely due to the negligence of the parents.”
In one of the highest-profile incidents involving chengguan in recent years, four officers in the central province of Hunan were jailed for between three-and-a-half years and 11 years in 2013 over a dispute that left a roadside watermelon vendor dead.
Local media reported that the officers beat the vendor to death for operating without a licence, with one smashing his head with a metal measuring weight.
