By It gives new meaning to the words ‘give a helping hand’. From AP-
Chen Fuchao, a man heavily in debt, had been contemplating suicide on a bridge in southern China for hours when a passer-by came up, shook his hand — and pushed him off the ledge.
Chen fell 26 feet (8 meters) onto a partially inflated emergency air cushion laid out by authorities and survived, suffering spine and elbow injuries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.
The passer-by, 66-year-old Lai Jiansheng, had been fed up with what he called Chen’s “selfish activity,” Xinhua said. Traffic around the Haizhu bridge in the city of Guangzhou had been backed up for five hours and police had cordoned off the area.
“I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest,” Lai was quoted as saying by Xinhua. “They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities’ attention to their appeals.”
Xinhua said Lai was “taken away by police” but did not elaborate.
Mr. Chen was supposedly in debt for over 2 million yuan or $290,000. Do you think Lai Jiansheng should be charged with a crime?
Updated and fixed post.
10:21 am on May 23rd, 2009 1
That is excellent.
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11:39 am on May 23rd, 2009 2
Why are you asking if Lai Jiansheng should be charged with the man’s death if he didn’t die? I don’t understand.
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3:44 pm on May 23rd, 2009 3
I think Bill just misspoke but meant that if the guy did die should the man be charged with murder. I think the guy should probably be at least charged with manslaughter if China has manslaughter laws.
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7:25 pm on May 23rd, 2009 4
One could argue that he saved his life by making sure that he lands on the mattress.
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7:45 pm on May 23rd, 2009 5
No, he should not be charged with a crime. He was right, and did the right thing.( I liked his logic) The criminal was in debt for 2 million yuan. I would like to hear more about the 2 million yuan expenditures first. The bum didn’t die and was only hurt. Yes, technically he took the law into his own hands and that is unforgivable. (we can’t let people just do what they feel like), however any punishment should be minimal, with a party afterwards.
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9:21 pm on May 23rd, 2009 6
In a communist country, he did the right thing in pushing him off the bridge. He represented the collective community in restoring order and harmony so everyone could get on with their lives. It just wouldn’t make any sense in the context of communism to punish him.
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