A Chinese policeman on patrol ran over a 2-year-old boy with his vehicle and killed him yesterday in Shenzhen, a city in southern China. It’s the third death from a police car in the city since 2010.
When the reporter with Guangzhou Daily hurried to the scene, a patrol car with the license plate “粤B0782警” (literally “Guangdong B0782 Police”) was cordoned off. A crowd of policemen were on the spot.
The police car is being hoisted away.
Mr. Fang, father of the little boy, was standing outside the cordon, tears welling up in his eyes.
He said at about 2:40 p.m., he and his 2-year-old son was playing in the alley. Then a police patrol car drove into the alley. Because there were four people playing mahjong in the little shop he owned down the alley, the policeman got off the car and interrogated the four people. He told the policeman they are his friends and relatives, who were just playing for fun and not really gambling. The policeman believed, and told them not to gamble before he went back to his car.
Then the wheels started rolling. “The police car had hardly moved one meter when I found my son under the wheel. I shouted at it in panic to stop it, but the rear wheels still continued to crush over my son’s body,” Fang said flusteredly, “Then the ambulance came. But my son didn’t make it.”
[0:09] (Voice-over) Ms. Li, mother of the boy, said that it took place at about 2:40 p.m. At that time her husband Mr. Fang was holding their son standing on the roadside and talking to a policeman at the wheel. Then when the car was about to leave, Xiao Qiang (boy’s pseudonym) was knocked down onto the ground.
[0:22] Ms. Li (wailing): WHEN I HURRIED HERE, THE KID HAD BLOOD ALL OVER HIS BODY.
[0:27] (voice-over) Soon after the accident, Luo, the suspect, was taken to the police station.
The 2-year-old boy was pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. yesterday.
According to Mr. Fang, father of the victim, the policeman smelt of alcohol when he got off the police car. Fang suspected that the policeman was driving under the influence.
But according to the Shenzhen Police Department, Luo, the policeman who committed the murder, was sober at the time of the accident. Later, the police took Luo back to the police station and performed a breath test on him. The result found no presence of alcohol in him.
The police said they also took Luo to a hospital for the blood test for alcohol. So far the result hasn’t come out yet. They have found the eyewitnesses and will handle the case impartially.
