A Different Spin On Assisted Suicide

[Skeptical Greg]

I was surprised when a search didn't turn up an entry on this - so here goes.

( apologies if I overlooked it )

Passer-by pushes suicide jumper in south China (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090523/ap_on_re_as/as_china_suicide_help)

Lai volunteered to talk Chen down but was turned away by police, Xinhua said. Lai then broke through the cordon, climbed to where Chen sat, greeted him with a handshake, then pushed.
........ The passer-by, 66-year-old Lai Jiansheng, had been fed up with what he called Chen's "selfish activity," Xinhua said. Traffic around the Haizhu bridge in the city of Guangzhou had been backed up for five hours and police had cordoned off the area.....



http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/s/mediagallery/2009/5/23/150554/wq23180ww.jpg

Photos in the Beijing Morning Post showed Lai, shoeless and in a T-shirt, saluting after Chen fell.

[rjh01]

I wonder what he will be charged with
1. Assisted suicide
2. Murder / manslaughter
3. Nothing

[Skeptic Ginger]

Talk about selfish. I'd say the guy who was annoyed at the traffic inconvenience had no compassion for an extremely troubled person.

On a different note, why could the police set up fall bags but not manage to grab the guy and take him off the bridge. Even the jerk who thought he should push the guy off could have wrestled him off the ledge instead.

[Safe-Keeper]

Nothing to add. A disgusting case.

[Eddie Dane]

Just.....wow.

[Silly Green Monkey]

Did the jumper die? The article I read indicated that he'd landed on the cushion and suffered injuries. Pity the pusher didn't wait until the bag was inflated...

[casebro]

In a communist society, he deserved to be pushed.

If he delayed 100,000 people for five hours, that adds up to one life. Eye for an eye, it was time to push him. Rescue bags or not.

[Alt+F4]

Did the jumper die? The article I read indicated that he'd landed on the cushion and suffered injuries. Pity the pusher didn't wait until the bag was inflated...

You're right, the guy didn't die, back injuries I believe. I'd consider him the "pushee" rather than the jumper however. As for the pusher, seems he has mental health issues as well. Who'd a thunk it?

[Alt+F4]

In a communist society, he deserved to be pushed.

I wonder what would have happened if this was in a libertarian society?

[Wolfman]

I haven't been able to find any online references to this from China, other than a brief article in the China Daily that gives pretty much the same info as this article.

However, when I queried some of my friends in China about it, they said that it hasn't been reported much in the press, but has been all over the internet. There is all sorts of debate about it, with the vast majority condemning Lai Jiansheng for his actions.

The criticism is not universal, however. Some people point out that an emergency cushion had been inflated below, and that Lai was simply expediting matters by pushing the man onto it (the fact that it was not fully inflated is an accident that Lai would not have been aware of).

There's also not a terribly great amount of sympathy for a lot of these threatened (or actual) suicides. The majority of them seem to be related to financial matters, in most cases related to gambling debt, or corruption. An awful lot of Chinese tend to view such a suicide as simply saving everyone else a lot of time and money.

Lai was arrested. The victim didn't die, so no murder charges. The fact that there was a cushion below would make a charge of attempted murder difficult (in that Lai may have firmly believed that the man would not die, and was not trying to kill him). However, Lai's action did bring the matter to international attention, and caused a loss of face for the country, and the police. So I'm quite certain that they will find some way to make sure he suffers for his act.

[Soapy Sam]

Having once been stuck in traffic for over an hour by two guys lying in the road protesting something, I have a sneaking sympathy for Mr.Lai.

[El Greco]

Having once been stuck in traffic for over an hour by two guys lying in the road protesting something, I have a sneaking sympathy for Mr.Lai.

Ummm... they weren't lying protesting, they were pushed by someone from the bridge above.

[INRM]

I think the person who did this should be tried for murder. In China that should result in his brains getting splattered and the family docked the bullet.

[linusrichard]

I think the person who did this should be tried for murder. In China that should result in his brains getting splattered and the family docked the bullet.

Again, for murder you need a dead person. Attempted murder would be the top, if they could prove intent, or A&B causing grievous bodily harm (or the Chinese equivalent) depending on the injuries, or some sort of aggravated A&B otherwise.

[Wolfman]

I think the person who did this should be tried for murder. In China that should result in his brains getting splattered and the family docked the bullet.
As linusrichard stated...it is, in pretty much every country in the world (so far as I'm aware) impossible to convict somebody of murder when nobody has died. That includes China.

Fortunately, what "you think" has no bearing on the situation.