Drivers in China intentionally killing pedestrians they run into
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Laws have become so unjust in China that drivers are being caught on video deliberately running over pedestrians multiple times to ensure they are dead. The punishment for killing a pedestrian seems paltry compared to the potential millions a driver may spend on medical care for an injured person.
Slate reports,
It seems like a crazy urban legend: In China, drivers who have injured pedestrians will sometimes then try to kill them. And yet not only is it true, it’s fairly common; security cameras have regularly captured drivers driving back and forth on top of victims to make sure that they are dead. The Chinese language even has an adage for the phenomenon: “It is better to hit to kill than to hit and injure.”
This 2008 television report features security camera footage of a dusty white Passat reversing at high speed and smashing into a 64-year-old grandmother. The Passat’s back wheels bounce up over her head and body. The driver, Zhao Xiao Cheng, stops the car for a moment then hits the gas, causing his front wheels to roll over the woman. Then Zhao shifts into drive, wheels grinding the woman into the pavement. Zhao is not done. Twice more he shifts back and forth between drive and reverse, each time thudding over the grandmother’s body. He then speeds away from her corpse.
Incredibly, Zhao was found not guilty of intentional homicide. Accepting Zhao’s claim that he thought he was driving over a trash bag, the court of Taizhou in Zhejiang province sentenced him to just three years in prison for “negligence.” Zhao’s case was unusual only in that it was caught on video. As the television anchor noted, “You can see online an endless stream of stories talking about cases similar to this one.”
Something needs to change. A driver caught on camera deliberately running over a person more than once is not just running over trash or cardboard, because why would they run over the object multiple times? These cruel people belong in prison for life and judges and juries must stop letting them off the hook. Hopefully the public exposure will change this. As for those drivers who merely injure pedestrians, charities should help out with the medical costs. Hopefully they are allowed to fulfill this need in China. But considering China’s cruel policy towards life — forced abortions for families who have more than one or two children — the communist government may not care about the loss of a few more lives. The parallel to the 1975 scifi movie Death Race 2000, where drivers mow down pedestrians for points, is frightening.
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