VALKRYIE
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2015
- Messages
- 669
- Reaction score
- -1
- Country
- Location
The Toronto StarChina probes fatal shooting of unarmed traveller by police officerThe Chinese public has become uneasy about police officers’ newly granted power to carry guns and has questioned if they can use the weapon responsibly.
A Chinese police training officer, right, guides a trainee during a weapons training session for officers in Haikou, in southern China's Hainan province. Newly granted power for normal Chinese police officers to carry a firearm, has raised calls for a full independent investigation, after a police officer killed an unarmed traveller in front of his elderly mother and three small children at a train station.
Published on May 12 2015
Didi TangTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING — China’s Public Security Ministry is investigating a shooting in which a police officer killed an unarmed traveller in front of his elderly mother and three small children at a train station, the ministry said Tuesday.
Rising calls for a full, independent investigation have followed the shooting as the public has become uneasy about the newly granted power for normal Chinese police officers to carry guns and has questioned if the police can use the lethal weapon responsibly.
Already, several shootings have occurred where the police use of guns was questioned but never fully accounted for.
“When authorities fail to provide rational explanations for pulling the trigger and to handle such cases in a fair and just way, police officers will continue to use their guns blindly, raising the risks that social tensions would only one day erupt uncontrollably,” said Zhao Chu, a Shanghai-based independent commentator, who says police violence can become habitual if it’s not adequately checked by law.
In the latest case, local railway police in the northeastern town of Qing’an said the officer opened fire after Xu Chunhe, 45, attacked the officer and tried to seize his gun.
But a clip of private video circulating online shows the officer using a long stick to beat Xu, who tried to dodge the blows and then tried to pull the stick away. A small child was heard asking the father not to fight but to go home.
Local authorities have yet to release the full surveillance footage of the May 2 shooting.
The ministry confirmed a state media report that it had dispatched a work team to Qing’an to gather evidence and witness accounts, and said it would release results later.
Following a deadly attack by members of the ethnic minority Uighurs at the train station in the southwestern city of Kunming last year, Beijing began to allow first-line patrol officers to carry firearms in a country where violent crimes also are on the rise accompanying intensifying social tensions.
However, the move has raised concerns over whether the newly trained patrol officers are responsible enough in the use of the deadly weapon. Experts worry that the gun training would focus too much on technical aspects, such as firing accuracy, and not enough on legal aspects, such as when to draw the gun.
Within months of the new decree, .
In one case last year, a villager upset with land compensations was shot 12 times after he showed up in front of the town government in a truck decorated with wreaths and banners. Police said the man posed an imminent threat when he waved a knife and tried to ram the vehicle into a crowd, although more than 100 witnesses signed a petition testifying that the man posed no threat and the gunshots were unnecessary. The official ruling has stood since then.
Xu’s death has once again roused the public with people demanding justifications for why police officer Li Lebin shot Xu in the heart.
Xie Yanyi, a lawyer for Xu’s family, said he believes the officer had no compelling reason to fatally shoot Xu and that he should be investigated on charges of murder.
Local authorities said Li came to the scene when Xu barred other travellers from checking into the station and that Xu swore at the officer.
“He boxed at the police officer, knocking off his cap,” police supervisor Zhao Dongbin told local media. “He said he would try to grab the gun . . . and it would have been unimaginable if he had seized the gun.”
Xu’s cousin, Xu Chunli, told local media the officer hit Xu so hard with the baton that Xu had blood on his head and face. Once Xu grabbed the baton, the officer pulled the gun, the cousin said.
The police account doesn’t say what prompted Xu to cause a scene at the station. The cousin said Xu grew upset when he and his family were prevented from boarding the train.
Impoverished and ill, Xu was trying to travel to Beijing to seek government assistance for his family, which would have drawn unwelcome scrutiny on the local government. It’s a common practice for local officials to intercept petitioners such as Xu.
This is quite sad an issue of abuse of authoritative power or excessive force for self defence.
