Daily Lessons from Life 26 October 2010 - China hit-and-run suspect arrested after online outrage

"China hit-and-run suspect arrested after online outrage - Tue, Oct 26, 2010 AFP

BEIJING, Oct 26, 2010 (AFP) - The son of a senior police officer in China who was allegedly involved in a fatal, drunken hit-and-run has been arrested, state media reported, after the incident sparked outrage on the Internet.

Li Qiming reportedly hit two students with his car at a university campus in the northern province of Hebei and the drunk 22-year-old shouted 'sue
me if you dare' when a crowd stopped him from fleeing, the state Xinhua news agency said.


Witnesses said Li drove past the victims after the accident on October 16, speeding towards the gate of Hebei University, the report said late Monday.

When he was blocked, he was heard challenging people to sue him, shouting 'my father is Li Gang,' referring to the deputy director of the public security bureau in Baoding city's Beishi district, where the university is located.

One of the girls Li hit has died and the other is still being treated in hospital, according to the report."

Another tragic story another revelation about how skewed some people's minds can be when they are not thinking straight! This mistaken belief that they can do whatever they want just because they are the children of some people in position of power and authority in China will be repeated again and again all over the vast country for a few more years to come until they realized that 'no one is above the law - sans a very select few!'.

Lessons for me are:

1. if you misbehaved, committed crime against fellow human beings, you will be found out eventually and brought to justice! It is not that there is no retribution. Jut that the time has not come yet!;

2. if abuses by people in power are not checked and nick in the bud, the negative influence it will have on the masses will be immense. The victims can EITHER take it lying down and tolerated and endured until they could no longer stomached it and explode into a big revolt OR to quickly appeal to the proper authority to bring the culprits to justice! The quick nick in the bud approach is obviously preferred!;

3. in China, the families of the victims often are willing to take 'compensation money' for a death and forgive. This is fine as long as there is no coercion. At the same time, the offender MUST still get punished through the fair and transparent justice sytem with imprisonment, disqualification from drinking, etc. Money CANNOT bring the deads back. Money does not mean the manslaughter act is pardoned!

Finally, thanks for the internet once again, that a wrong was being righted. Though not all internet uses are that sweet for justice!