The story appears on

Page A6

November 15, 2019

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Nation

Dangerous ‘chucking’ crackdown

Deliberately throwing objects from heights will be treated as a crime of endangering public security by dangerous means, intentional injury or homicide depending on specific situations, according to a new guideline issued by the Supreme People’s Court.

Suspects, whose intentional high-rise littering have not caused serious consequences but are sufficient to endanger public safety, shall be convicted for endangering public security and sentenced to three to 10 years in jail.

Those who inflict serious injury or death or cause heavy losses of public or private property could face penalties up to life imprisonment or death.

Anyone who commits the acts with the purpose of injuring or killing a specific person shall be convicted for intentional injury or homicide. “Criminal activities involving intentionally throwing objects from a high altitude should be severely punished in accordance with the law,” the guideline reads.

The document also lists circumstances that are subject to heavy penalties and are generally not applicable to probation, including committing the acts multiple times, continuing to carry out such acts after being dissuaded from doing so, or conducting the acts in crowded places.

Anyone who causes objects to fall from high altitudes due to negligence, resulting in serious injury or death, shall be convicted for negligently causing severe injury or death according to the Criminal Law, says the guideline.

In one such case in Shanghai recently, a man who threw household items, including a knife and a screwdriver, from the 14th floor of a residential building was charged with endangering public safety, the Minhang District People’s Procuratorate announced yesterday.

The man, surnamed Jiang, threw potentially dangerous items from a smashed window in his parents’ apartment in Minhang on August 1.

Jiang allegedly became enraged at his parents due to a family dispute, during which he destroyed various household appliances in the apartment and also broke a window.

It was from this window that Jiang is accused of chucking various objects, including the contents of three boxes.

During this outburst, Jiang’s father was said to have called the police. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a variety of objects on the sidewalk and lawn below the apartment that Jiang’s parents lived in.

These included a wooden drawer, a water kettle, a tablet computer and a knife.

Cars parked in the vicinity were allegedly damaged by these falling items, with repairs totaling over 4,000 yuan (US$569).

Prosecutors said Jiang realized during the incident that his actions might cause harm to people or property.

Prosecutors said the items could have caused serious damage, including injury or even death. And the incident occurred at 5pm, when people were likely to be in the area.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend