Boy, 4, killed as parents flee chengguan
Print Edition
A COUPLE selling fruit on the street in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, accidentally ran over and killed their 4-year-old son while trying to avoid law enforcement officers, prompting outrage online.
It is the latest public outcry involving chengguan, or urban management officers, who have gained notoriety among the Chinese public for abusing their powers while enforcing city laws.
Street vendors in China often operate without licenses, and can be fined for doing so.
When the fruit sellers spotted four chengguan patrolling the neighborhood on Thursday, they jumped in their truck to flee, accidentally running over their son, Channel 6 TV quoted eyewitnesses as saying.
A surveillance video aired yesterday by the Zhejiang provincial station showed the father, surnamed Liu, getting into the vehicle on the driver’s side while his son played on the ground near the front wheel on the passenger side.
As the chengguan chased other vendors around the street corner, the father began driving away, crushing his son under the wheel, the video showed.
“By the time I passed by after work, the child had already died, and they were standing around crying,” a local man was quoted as saying.
A police statement cited by The Beijing News confirmed the incident and said an investigation was ongoing.
Social media users responded to the report with rage, questioning why vendors should be so fearful of chengguan.
“This is devastating. Why does China need chengguan in the first place?” a person wrote on Sina Weibo.
Others pointed the finger at the couple for not taking better care of their child.
“You really can’t blame the chengguan. The father cared only about himself and not his son,” a person said.
“This is entirely due to the negligence of the parents,” said another.
In one of the highest-profile incidents involving chengguan in recent years, four officers in central China’s Hunan Province were jailed in 2013 for beating to death a roadside watermelon vendor.
Local media said the officers beat the man to death for operating without a license, with one smashing his head with a metal measuring weight.
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