When an elderly security guard at a housing complex in Xi’an, western China, tried to charge the relative of a police officer 3 yuan (about half a dollar) for a parking violation, he was beaten to the point of injury, he told Beijing News.
Su Daping, the policeman whose relative had just parked, walked over to 61-year-old security guard Zheng Youzhong and said “do you want to die?” before striking him to the ground.
The March 28 incident was captured on a security camera at the residence. Su Daping was dressed in a black shirt and could be seen outside the residential office, where he beat Zheng.
In a statement posted on its official social media account, the Judicial Bureau of Xi’an confirmed that Su was an officer working at the city’s drug rehabilitation center. Before that, he had worked with the local branch of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, a Communist Party body that oversees the Chinese police.
Zheng is still recovering from his wounds.
Netizen comments were critical of the officer, the police, and the Party.
“As a public officer who takes his wages from taxpayers, you bully commoners,” one said. “Is this how you serve your own people?”
Others opined: “corrupt officials are not scary, but the police,” and “though it’s been many years since the Communist Party took power, its bandit nature is hard to change.”
The case is currently under investigation.
