The trial of a Beijing truck that flattened a taxi began, and the driver admitted to overloading

  The taxi that was squashed at the time of the incident, photo provided by the Internet

  The driver of the truck, Wang Chenglong, was tried in Tongzhou District Court yesterday on suspicion of causing a traffic accident in a car accident in Tongzhou District last October, in which a large truck overturned and crushed onto a taxi waiting for a red light, killing the taxi driver. Wang Chenglong said that the truck was seriously overloaded at the time, and during the driving process, he made a sharp turn to the right to prevent hitting another car that was connected to the line, causing the vehicle to overturn and suppress the taxi. The public prosecution agency recommended a sentence of one to one and a half years, but the case was not handed down in court.

  Prosecutors allege

  Investigate the criminal responsibility of large truck drivers

  Yesterday morning, the case was heard in the Tongzhou District Court. Prosecutors alleged that at around 22:9 on October 17, 2016, Wang Chenglong drove a heavy dump truck to the east entrance of Yaoxinzhuang Village, Jingtang Road, Tongzhou District. In order to avoid the car merging from the right lane, the truck rolled over in the right direction, causing the truck and the rocks on the truck to be buried in the taxi waiting for the traffic light. The 39-year-old taxi driver Li died on the spot.

  The Tongzhou Detachment of the Public Security Traffic Administration of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau determined that Wang Chenglong was primarily responsible for the accident, and that Ding, the driver of the car, was primarily responsible for the accident, while Li, the deceased, was not responsible.

  After the accident, Wang Chenglong surrendered to the police at the scene. The public prosecution organ believes that Wang Chenglong violated traffic regulations, resulting in a major accident that caused one death, and should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of traffic accident. The public prosecution organ recommended that the sentence be fixed-term imprisonment for one to one and a half years, but the court did not pronounce the sentence in court.

  Big cargo driver

  Plead guilty in court to overloading

  During the trial, Wang Chenglong pleaded guilty. Wang Chenglong recalled that on the night of the crime, he drove the truck from Shunyi to Shijiao County. He had never traveled the road between the two places, so he followed another truck. The truck in front of him ran past the intersection when the signal light turned red. At this moment, a car suddenly forced the line to the motor vehicle lane where the truck was located, and stopped directly in front of the truck. Wang Chenglong hurriedly stepped on the brakes. Due to inertia, the vehicle still moved forward. In order to avoid hitting the car, Wang Chenglong turned the steering wheel to the right. As a result, the truck rolled over and pressed the taxi next to it.

  Wang Chenglong said that the truck he was driving had an approved cargo capacity of 12 tons, but 46 tons of stones were loaded on the truck that day, and overloading was also one of the reasons why the truck rolled over.

  parallel driver

  I didn’t know the accident was related to me until I read the news

  Ding, the driver of the car who was indirectly responsible for the accident, said that a truck in the left lane ran a red light at that time, so he parallel to the left lane, but did not observe whether there were other vehicles in the left rear at that time. After the line was merged, the signal light ahead turned red, and he stopped the car. At this time, a truck behind the car rolled over, and the stones on the car were scattered on the ground, burying the taxi next to it. After the signal light turned green, Ding drove away from the scene. Ding admitted that his parallel behavior violated traffic rules. Ding said that the next day, he saw online reports and videos, and found that the accident was related to his lane change.

  According to the provisions of the law on traffic accident, in such accidents, only the party responsible for the accident will be suspected of criminal offenses. Although the party responsible for the secondary accident should bear the corresponding civil liability, it does not involve criminal offenses.

  visit

  "The family mainly depends on him to support themselves."

  On the night of the incident, the taxi driver, Master Li, was driving on National Highway 103. When he passed the Yaoxinzhuang intersection, Master Li stopped in the parking line in accordance with traffic rules and waited for the red light to turn green. At this time, a large truck filled with stones suddenly turned sharply to the right in order to avoid another car that suddenly pressed the solid line and the line, resulting in a rollover. The truck, together with tons of stones, happened to be pressed against Master Li’s car.

  At 22:15 that night, Tongzhou Fire Yuqiao Squadron arrived at the scene and found that Master Li’s taxi was almost completely squashed by the truck. It was not until 0:01 a.m. on the 18th that firefighters rescued Master Li who was trapped in the car. After 999 on-site confirmation, Master Li had no vital signs.

  After the accident, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily visited the home of taxi driver Master Li and interviewed the family members and neighbors of the deceased.

  As usual, the family members who cooked dinner at home did not expect that, just a 10-minute drive from home, Master Li would leave this world forever.

  After Master Li left, Mr. Dong, who lived next door, saw that Master Li’s wife no longer went out, "her face was bad and she rarely spoke." While Master Li’s mother sat on the bed, "wrapped in a quilt, tears streaming down her face."

  "He is a pillar of the family," Mr. Li’s relatives told the Beijing Youth Daily on the afternoon of the 20th. "If the pillar collapses, the sky will collapse."

  Before the accident, Mr. Li had a 93-year-old grandmother and a 70-year-old mother to support, and a 15-year-old daughter who was still in junior high school, according to his uncle. In addition, Master Li also has a sister who moved out after getting married.

  He has been driving taxis for more than a decade and earns about Rmb4,000 a month, according to his uncle, who said he had been rated an excellent driver by his taxi company. "The family mainly depends on him to support themselves, so he works every morning and every night."

  Mr. Dong is a tenant of the Li family. He told the Beiqing Daily reporter that he has rented the house in Master Li’s house for seven or eight years. In Mr. Dong’s mouth, Master Li is a particularly diligent and energetic person. "He goes out to work at 6 o’clock every morning and comes back at 10 o’clock in the evening. I haven’t seen him rest for a few days all year round."

  A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw the barber shop opened by Master Li and his wife near his home. Mr. Dong said that the barber shop was usually mainly run by Master Li’s wife, but Master Li often came to the store to help after returning from renting at night.

  In Mr. Dong’s impression, Mr. Li’s family has a good relationship. "He comes back to the taxi every day after 10 o’clock in the evening, and the family will make porridge and hot dishes to wait for him, and the family will have dinner together." This harmonious atmosphere is also transmitted to the neighborhood. Mr. Dong, who came to Beijing from Gansu to work as a migrant, said that he rented here seven or eight years ago and "has been unwilling to leave" since then. Mr. Dong feels that the estrangement between locals and outsiders has disappeared between Master Li’s family and himself. "Their family is warm to people and never cares about small things. During the New Year and holidays, they will call me to the house for dinner, and everyone will sit together to drink and chat." Mr. Dong said.

  On the evening of 3 days after the incident, a reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that Master Li’s sister and mother had sent relatives who had come to visit to the alley entrance. The street lamps were dim and the rain was slightly inclined. The sister helped the mother go home, and then the lights in the house came on, and the sound of cooking in the kitchen spread faintly outside.

  At the place where Master Li died that day, large trucks hurriedly drove through the intersection.

  By our reporters, Zhang Fan and Yang Lin