Police officials suspended over thrown baby case
Print Edition
Three police officials in central China’s Henan Province have been suspended over a case in which an officer threw a baby girl to ground but was only punished with 15 days disciplinary confinement.
The director, political commissar and deputy Party chief of the Public Security Bureau of Henan’s Linzhou City are under police investigation, the People’s Daily website reported.
The officer, Guo Zengxi, 50, was detained on Saturday night on suspicion of intentional injury by throwing the seven-month-old girl to the ground and fracturing her skull on July 18, Linzhou police said. The detention followed media reports earlier in the day exposing the incident.
The baby had been rushed to hospital while Guo was also treated in hospital after he was beaten up by local residents, Xinhua news agency reported.
Authorities did not bring any charges against Guo, though he was placed under a 15-day confinement, an internal punishment for violating police regulations.
The baby was treated for multiple brain injuries and discharged from a hospital in Anyang City, which administers Linzhou, on August 5.
Her mother, Ren Wenli, said the girl was easily startled and was fearful of strangers since the incident. She still had a bump on the back of her head and a doctor said she could suffer after-effects from the trauma.
The case came to public attention when, in late July, Zhai Jianzhou, director of the Linzhou’s People’s Congress, described the incident as “intolerable” at a meeting.
According to several sources, Guo and the girl’s father, Li Qingfeng, had arranged for Guo to pay the family hundreds of thousands of yuan in compensation and the case was considered over, according to a report in The Beijing News.
However, an official with the city’s publicity department denied the story and Li didn’t respond to inquiries.
Guo is in police custody in Anyang rather than Linzhou to assure an objective investigation, the newspaper reported.
Guo and his friends were heading to a karaoke venue after a dinner party when they saw Li carrying his daughter. He suddenly grabbed the child from his arms, held her above his head and then threw her to the ground, a police report said. Police found that he didn’t quarrel with the girl’s parents as a neighbor had claimed, Xinhua reported.
An official with the Linzhou People’s Congress cited an “internal report” as saying Guo had bet the baby was just a doll and hurled her to the ground to prove he was right.
Guo was reported to have admitted it but police haven’t confirmed that account.
The girl has been released from hospital and is staying at a relative’s home in Anyang City.
Anyang’s health department has arranged a stay in a hospital in Beijing for further treatment, but the baby’s parents were reluctant to have her undergo a lot of X-rays, city officials said.
A decision on whether to send her to Beijing would depend on how her parents feel she is progressing, officials said.
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