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A chase between an unlicensed roadside lunch vendor and a law enforcement squad ended in a rear-end collision on Friday afternoon in downtown Beijing.
A chase between an unlicensed roadside lunch vendor and a law enforcement squad ended in a rear-end collision on Friday afternoon in downtown Beijing. [Photo / Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
The vendor's motorized tricycle, modified to serve as a moving lunch sale stand, was seen to have been knocked down by a white Volkswagen Jetta around 12:45 p.m., near Huayuanqiao Bridge on the Western 3rd Ring Road, in the Chinese capital's Haidian District.
The vendor's noodles, sauces, and beans -- to be sold to the white collars working in the adjacent office buildings -- were scattered on across the road as a result of the collision. The vendor, Lu Huawei, was found sobbing on the road, saying she had suffered from some minor injuries in the accident.
The Jetta remained at the scene of the crash with its hazard lights blinking non-stop all the time. Its front bumper had been dislocated to some degree on the right, with bearing some visible scratches as a result of the rub with scraping against the tricycle on that same side. The Jetta's headlights remained intact.
Lu's husband Liu Xinli, who arrived at the scene soon afterwards, showed his indignation, claiming the Jetta had intentionally hit Lu's tricycle out of nervousness, which directly resulted in the accident. He added the urban management staff had behaved "brutally, like bandits." The couple both added: "the car driver, who was dressed in a black jacket, fled the scene."
Liu said he was aware that they were conducting unlicensed business, but argued that it was the sole income of the household.
The accident gained the vendor much sympathy from bystanders, many of whom appeared to be working in lower-end professions. They said in chorus that the law enforcement officers were to blame.
A chase between an unlicensed roadside lunch vendor and a law enforcement squad ended in a rear-end collision on Friday afternoon in downtown Beijing. [Photo / Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]
"The white car just came to hit the tricycle at a fast speed. It didn't slow down," said one male bystander who wished to remain anonymous. The man added there were four law enforcement vehicles; the other three fled the scene after the accident occurred. He also pointed out there were no brake marks to be seen on the road's surface, indicating the Jetta driver was "intentionally" hitting the tricycle.
A police officer conducting the initial investigation at the scene said most cars -- including the Jetta -- now had the ABS system, which prevents the tires from locking themselves up in a sudden brake; therefore, the lack of brake marks did not necessarily mean the vehicle had not slowed down.
Yet, the law enforcement officers offered their version of the incident. Three staff members remained at the scene, including one man holding a video camera filming the entire incident, who remained silent all the time. They said they were officers working at the Comprehensive Remediation Office at the Balizhuang Community.
One head officer, who declined to be named, said the vendor was trying to escape the enforcement vehicles chasing her; her motor tricycle was tripped by the Jetta's chasing when making a sudden lane change, which caused the tricycle to tip over.
The third man, dressed in a dark suit and identifying himself as Ding Jincheng, insisted he was the Jetta driver.
"The Jetta is the head car of the squad. It was motionless as her tricycle was coming towards us at a fast speed; she was trying to escape other law enforcement cars chasing her from behind," Ding said, convinced the truth and justice will eventually prevail.
Ding insisted that if he was intentionally hitting the tricycle, visible dents would have occurred in the car bumper, a saying the vendor couple did not accept.
More police later arrived with special equipment, trying to find clues from the scene itself, before hearing the allegations from both sides. The police officers provided no immediate ruling on whether the crash was an "accident" or "incident."
Conflicts between roadside vendors and urban management officers have been like a cat-and-mouse game for decades. Vendors claim they are the underprivileged and have to live off their meager sales. Whereas urban management authorities, better known as chengguan in Chinese, think unlicensed vendors most of the times bring disorders to urban environment. In the case of meal vendors, the food they sell can barely be called clean.
Nevertheless, the Jetta-tricycle crash may be a sign that the cat and game would continue.
