Night can’t cover the indifference–Beijing forklift driver suspected of intentional homicide

Night can’t cover the indifference–Beijing forklift driver suspected of intentional homicide

At 3 o’clock on July 16, 2019, a vicious traffic accident occurred on the west side of the South Bridge of the 18th branch of the main ring road of the South Fourth Ring Road in Chaoyang District, Beijing.

After the accident, a short video recording the rear-end vehicles from the smoke to the fire, and eventually swallowed by the flame caused a hot discussion on the network.

In the video, the head of an SUV car is stuck at the rear of the forklift. The front of the car is slowly smoked and then caught fire.

Throughout the process, the passers-by who took the video repeatedly called the forklift driver to save the car and even rebuke, but the driver took care of the phone and turned a deaf ear.

During the driver’s call, the car smoked and caught fire. Other car owners passing by took out the fire extinguisher on the car, but it didn’t help. The fire broke out and the car body burned.

The accident caused two people and two passengers of the SUV sedan to die and the two cars were damaged.

After the video was released to the Internet, the driver did not promptly save people’s behavior, which also caused public anger. Many netizens thought that the forklift driver should be severely sentenced for traffic accidents.

On July 18, the Beijing traffic police again issued a notice stating that the driver of the forklift driver had been criminally charged for the crime of negligent death.

However, from a professional point of view, the driver of the case, the driver of the case, may be suspected of multiple charges, including not only the crime of traffic accidents, the crime of negligent death , but also the crime of intentional homicide or the danger of endangering public safety .

But the first problem that needs to be solved is:

What is the real cause of death for the driver and passenger of the car?

Hit to death, or burn alive?

 

First, if the rear car personnel die in flames…

According to life experience, in the normal situation of rear-end collision, the airbag will start immediately. The driver and passengers of the rear car may be more stunned, but there is no danger to life.

Whether the deceased has enough fatal impact or injury, or suffocation due to inhalation of smoke, or death by burns, these can be identified by forensic doctors.

The real cause of death is to be further tested by the forensic doctor, but we can first consider the criminal responsibility of the forklift driver if the rear-wheeler dies in the flame.

 

In criminal law theory, there is a special kind of crime called “inaction”, that is, the actor does not perform the obligation if he is capable of fulfilling an obligation.

For example, the parents watched the child go to the cliff without stopping. The police watched the criminals run away without stopping. When the person was knocked down and watched the blood flow of the injured person not to be sent to the doctor, they could commit crimes because of inaction.

And in this incident…

 

1. The forklift driver’s legal obligation to save someone

There are many sources of human obligations, but not all cases of non-fulfilment of obligations can constitute a crime.

The obligations that can be raised to criminal liability include:

  • Mandatory provisions of the law
  • Requirement for job responsibilities – such as the police, whether or not they are at work, have the responsibility to stop the crime
  • Obligations arising from the existence of civil legal relationships – such as the obligation of parents to protect minor children
  • Obligations arising from the first act – if the minor children with neighbors are traveling alone during the game, there is a duty of security

……

 

In this incident, the forklift driver has a legally compulsory rescue obligation.

Article 70 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of China states:

In the event of a traffic accident on the road, the driver of the vehicle should immediately stop and protect the scene; if the person is injured or injured, the driver of the vehicle should immediately rescue the injured person and promptly report to the traffic police on duty or the traffic management department of the public security organ. If the scene of the injured person’s change is rescued, the location shall be indicated. Passengers, passing vehicle drivers and passing pedestrians should be assisted.

Please note that it is “should” and is “immediately”. It even prioritizes reporting to the traffic police department.

This is because, in traffic accidents, it is usually easy to cause personal injury and life-threatening. If you rescue one second, you will have more hope of being saved. The most qualified to rescue the injured is the driver of the vehicle or the passenger on the scene at the time of the accident. Therefore, the law requires the driver of the vehicle in the accident to undertake the rescue obligation to save any life as much as possible.

Under normal circumstances, because the driver of the vehicle does not have the medical skills of professional rescue, it is usually necessary to complete the rescue obligation as long as 120 calls for help after the accident.

However, in the special case where an accident causes some people to fall into a highly dangerous environment, if someone is thrown into the middle of the road due to an accident, there is a danger of being crushed by a later vehicle; or someone is hit into the river, there is a danger of paralysis; or If the vehicle in this incident is on fire and there is a danger of being burned to death, the driver of the vehicle involved should be obliged to prevent the injured from avoiding this risk.

 

 

2, 戚 has the ability to save people

To establish a crime, not only requires an obligation to save people, but also requires the ability to save people.

At that time, there was no ability to save people in the situation, and it was clear in the video.

First of all, the video can be clearly seen, and a certain person can walk around and go to call, and normally, the driver of the rear-end vehicle is often less likely to be injured. It can be seen that Zou was not injured at the time of the accident and did not lose the objective ability to save people.

Secondly, many drivers will argue that “I was embarrassed at the time of the accident and didn’t know what to do” to show that I did not have the ability to rescue. However, in the video, Zou can call normally, indicating that his reason is still there; the video shooters and other passers-by continue to shout and urge the forklift driver to save people. Later, the forklift driver also argued a few words. His subjective cognition did not lose his ability to judge because of the impact.

Finally, the video completely records the entire process from the smoke to the fire. In terms of time, the driver has a certain time to move the forklift before the fire, and there is no time to “save time.”

 

In this case, if you want to say that you can’t save people, then you can only apply for mental illness identification.

 

3. What is the mentality of the death result?

Have the obligation to save people, have the ability to save people, but do not save people.

If the subjective mentality is indifferent to the death of the rear-carriage personnel, then an indirect intentional murder is established; if the subjective mentality does not want the death of the rear-carriage personnel, it is a negligence causing death.

Many people think that the “negligent” and “intentional” of the subjective mentality of the perpetrator in the crime are the opposite relationship, either the hope of the damage or the hope of the damage.

But in practice, “negligent” and “intentional” are not opposites, but the extent to which the evidence can be proved – because the current evidence is not sufficient to prove that the subjective mentality of the perpetrator is the “intentional” of pursuing or letting the result of death, so only ” Retreat to the next level, and consider it to be a “fault” that does not want to cause damage.

Therefore, the public security organ’s criminal case for the crime of “false negligence causing death” is also based on a cautious attitude. If the evidence is insufficient to prove that there is “intentional” in the case of Sui, the case is filed with a lesser degree.

In this incident, it is entirely possible to investigate further whether there is “intentional” for Zou, such as:

  • Who did he call at the time? What did you say?
  • When a passerby urges a car to save someone, how can he respond?
  • When other people came to the rescue, did you have any help?
  • What is your attitude afterwards? How to defend?

 

It can be seen from the video that there is only a short period of time from smoking to fire, and passersby is constantly persuading and urging him to move faster, or it may be further dangerous.

Under this circumstance, Zou should reasonably explain why he did not move the car to save people, or there is a clear evidence to prove that “there is no hope for a death result”, otherwise it can fully prove that Zou is indirectly responsible for the death result. Intentional, and this is the crime of intentional homicide.

 

 

 

Second, if the rear car personnel die from the impact…

Judging from the degree of impact in the video, it is unlikely that the rear-vehicle personnel will be killed or crashed into fatal injuries on the spot, but if this is the case, then the responsibility for the traffic accident should be divided first:

If Zou assumes the main responsibility for the accident, he shall be charged with traffic accidents; if he only assumes secondary or equivalent responsibilities , he will not commit crimes and can only assume administrative responsibility and civil liability.

In this accident, both sides were at fault.

At present, it can be determined that the fault of the rear car is a rear-end collision, and the fault of the preceding vehicle is unlicensed driving, and there may be cases where the technical conditions of the vehicle do not conform to the specifications and the driver has no driver’s license.

In the case that the current information is incomplete, we cannot judge the specific responsibilities of both parties to the accident, and the traffic police department has a great discretion for the division of responsibilities when both parties are at fault. Therefore, it can only be said that even the rear-vehicle personnel are involved in the accident. In the case of death and death, it is still possible to establish a traffic accident.

 

Third, don’t forget the public safety on the spot.

If Zou assumes secondary or equivalent responsibility in an accident, he will not be guilty?

Really not necessarily.

Don’t forget, this is not an ordinary traffic accident. It is not because the public opinion is not ordinary, but because the driving of the 戚 is not allowed to drive on the road.

Then, we can consider whether it is possible to establish a dangerous method to endanger public safety by driving a heavy shovel on the big smasher on the Beijing Fourth Ring .

 

In the process of dividing the responsibility, the traffic police usually judges the fault of the forklift by the standard of “motor vehicle”, but this is only an administrative responsibility.

From the perspective of criminal responsibility, we must consider the actual situation of the forklift in this accident.

Please note that wheeled self-propelled vehicles such as forklifts are not designed to be used on the road – they are designed to work on the job site.

Therefore, the forklift is compared to a motor vehicle that can drive on the road:

  • Very slow speed
  • Large size
  • Lack of lighting, taillights, brake lights, turn signals, etc.
  • Driving steering is more difficult to control
  • Drivers have different driving qualification requirements, and there are differences in driving habits and driving experience.

 

Think again about the actual objective environment of this case:

  • Time – 3 o’clock in the morning, it is the most sleepy time for the driver, the driver’s vision is also limited by the night;
  • Location – Beijing Fourth Ring, and the forklift is not in the slow lane on the far right, but in the middle lane.

These conditions further magnified the defects of the forklift.

Just think about it – at 3 o’clock in the morning, the main road of Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road, the front forklift with a particularly large size and a large size occupied the middle lane slowly, which was on the same road at that time. The threat posed by other vehicles is far from being a simple phrase: “No license plate vehicles that are not allowed to travel on the road” can be summarized.

And the forklift driver does not necessarily have a motor vehicle driver’s license!

You said that you are not afraid?

 

Of course, if it is necessary to determine the crime of endangering public safety by dangerous methods, it is required to further investigate the details of the objective environment at that time, such as the lighting conditions of the lane at that time, the traffic flow, the length of time that Zou is driving in the middle lane, and the purpose. Where is the land going, etc., to ascertain the extent to which “public safety” is threatened.

But in any case, this is also a direction of investigation, rather than “not guilty of failing to blame.”

 

There is no criminal responsibility, it may be decided by only a few thousand words, a few files; the two lives on the rear-end car may be decided by only one car.

Don’t forget that law is the bottom line of morality, and saving people is the bottom line of law. The nightingale can’t stand the indifference, but we hope the law can!