On the afternoon of December 23, a 7-year-old boy in Chengdu City of China’s southwestern Sichuan Province was crushed and killed by a truck driver. Witnesses suspect the driver of intentionally crushing and killing the boy to avoid paying high injury compensation fees. This was the second incidence of suspected intentional killing of a child involving a vehicle accident within a week.
According to a report by WCC Daily , on the afternoon of December 23, a child and a middle-aged woman were trapped under a yellow truck with a temporary Hubei license plate parked on a slope in front a service station. The 7-year-old boy’s right hand was caught under the truck’s right rear wheel. More than a dozen locals ran out to help the trapped mother and child. The locals instructed the driver to back up the truck so the two injured could be rescued.
A witness recounted, “The truck driver quickly got into the vehicle to back up, but the truck started sliding forward again. Everyone at the scene was frightened and started yelling for the driver to brake to avoid crushing the two under his vehicle. Later the right rear wheel of the truck ran over the child’s body.”
Afterwards, when the driver was questioned, he covered his face, responding, “You aren’t the police, why ask so many questions?”
Witness Chen recalled that the first time the boy was crushed under the car, he wasn’t killed and still yelled out for his mom. The driver was clearly told to back up, yet the car moved forward. Chen claims the driver’s actions were “absolutely intentional” and suspects that the driver figured he would have to pay more compensation for an injury than a death.
Other witnesses confirmed that the truck did back up, but then moved forward. They suspect that the steep slope and insufficient braking might have caused the vehicle to move forward. On December 20, a 3-year-old boy in Chengdu City was hit and killed by a car. A family witness claims the driver backed the car up after examining the situation, running over the toddler twice and killing him. This was another case that sparked national interest. Heated discussions about China’s “hitting and killing is better than hitting and wounding” rule have been launched. Some hold the opinion that the rule is caused by China’s inadequate legal system. Survey results on China’s popular Sohu.net show that over 95 percent of readers believe the driver intentionally killed the boy to avoid high injury compensation bills. In addition, nearly 39 percent believe that the reason similar tragedies repeatedly occur is “related to the flawed compensation law.”
