Officials probe police shooting at train station
Print Edition
A probe has been launched into the fatal police shooting of Xu Chunhe, a man who allegedly attacked police at a railway station in Heilongjiang Province on May 2, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.
Local police say the officer, Li Lebin, pulled the trigger after Xu, 45, attacked him and tried to seize his gun at the station in Qing’an County on May 2.
But a video clip circulating online shows Li using a long baton to beat Xu, who tries to dodge the blows and then tries to pull the baton out of the officer’s hands.
The Ministry of Public Security said yesterday that it had dispatched a work team to Qing’an to gather evidence and witness accounts.
In a statement, local railway police said Xu was shot dead as he had endangered the lives of passengers, Xinhua news agency reported.
Zhao Dongbin, an official with the Harbin railway police department, said Li had intervened when Xu barred other travelers from checking into the station and that Xu was abusive toward him.
“He boxed at the police officer, knocking off his cap,” Zhao told local media. “Li said Xu would try to grab the gun ... and it would have been unimaginable if he had seized the gun.”
According to Xinhua, witnesses said Xu smelled strongly of alcohol.
Li failed to restrain Xu after the officer was hit by a water bottle, Zhao said. Xu punched Li and chased him to the duty room, Zhao said. There, Li took a baton and the two fought.
Xu punched Li on the face and grabbed the baton, Zhao said. He also tried to grab the gun from Li, saying: “You have a gun. So what? It will be mine after I get it.”
However, lawyer Xie Yanyi told AFP: “The mistake was completely on the police’s side. It’s a suspected case of intentional homicide. We have a responsibility to pursue a criminal prosecution.”
Xie, who is representing Xu’s family, said witnesses told him that police detained Xu in the train station, tying him to a railing and beating him with batons. Xu had resisted and thus he was shot, he said.
Xie said police had tried to prevent Xu from boarding the train as they recognized him as a petitioner who had been in a long-term dispute with local officials over benefit payments.
Xu’s cousin, Xu Chunli, told local media that the officer hit Xu so hard with the baton that Xu had blood on his head and face. When Xu grabbed the baton, the officer pulled out his gun, the cousin said.
The cousin said Xu got upset when he and his family were barred from boarding the train.
Impoverished and ill, Xu was trying to travel to Beijing to seek government assistance for his elderly mother, Quan Yushun, and his three children aged from 5 to 7, which would have drawn unwelcome scrutiny on the local government, the cousin said.
The family’s plight was reported by the Beijing Evening News in February, when Quan took her three grandchildren to Beijing to seek help.
Quan said Xu had congenital heart disease, nephritis and pneumonia while his wife Li Xiuqin had mental problems.
She said she was too old to take care of the children.
Xu was cremated on May 5. His mother has been sent to a nursing home, his wife to hospital and the children to a children’s welfare center, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.
On May 5, local railway police offered compensation of 200,000 yuan (US$32,200).
But Quan told the newspaper: “I don’t want money. I just want the police who opened fire to pay for his life.”
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