Toddler run over by truck, left to die in streets of China

posted at 1:48 pm on October 18, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
[ Culture ]   

Jaw-dropping video footage has emerged from China, where on October 13 a van in the southern province of Guandong struck down and ran over a 2-year-old child, then drove off. (The video clip is here, but I caution readers: It is extremely difficult to watch.) When later asked if he was aware he had run over a child, the van’s driver responded affirmatively, explaining:

I only need to pay $1,500 if she dies. But if she lives, it would cost ten times more at least.

But the driver is not the only member of that society in desperate need of a soul. The dozen or so passersby that walked or drove by the child impassively over the next seven minutes also boggles the mind.

And if your blood is not yet at a full boil, consider this: A second truck rumbled by, and it too rolled over the child as she lay unconscious and bleeding.

Finally, after what seemed to this viewer like an eternity, a woman in the clip appears and drags the child out of the path of oncoming traffic, after which her mother—said to be a migrant worker—rushes into the frame.

Remarkably the child did not die immediately, though she is currently in a coma. Her prognosis, according to China’s official English-language newspaper, China Daily, is grim. In any case, she has been declared brain dead.

Reuters, which produced the video, writes that many in China are reluctant to aid people who appear to be in distress for fear of being blamed. “High-profile law suits,” the wire service adds, “have ended with good Samaritans ordered to pay hefty fines to individuals they sought to help.”

Another factor noted in the article is a growing disparity between rich and poor, which has led to a climate of general apathy. If this is the road we as a society are headed down, God help us.

Related Articles

• Krugman’s solution to our economic woes: Space invaders
• TSA takes toy away from mentally challenged man
• New Yorkers look on impassively as stabbing victim cries out for help
• The economic outlook: Recovery may be 5 or 6 years off
• Homeless good samaritan killed while saving a mugging victim

Follow me on Twitter or join me at Facebook. You can reach me at howard.portnoy@gmail.com or by posting a comment below.

Blowback