Suicidal man pushed off Chinese bridge
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A passerby pushed a man, who was threatening to commit suicide, off Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou, China.
The 66-year-old passerby, Lai Jiansheng, told China Daily that “I pushed him off because jumpers… are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interests.”
Lai initially volunteered his services to police to persuade the man not to jump, but police rejected these. Following this, Lai broke through a police barrier to push the man.
The pushed man, Chen Fuchao, survived with spinal and elbow injuries, because he landed on a partially-inflated air cushion 8 metres (26 feet) below. Lai was taken away by police.
The man threatening to jump was in 2,000,000 yuan (U.S.$293,000) of debt.
At least 12 people have threatened to jump off the bridge since the start of April, causing “traffic … to become worse” according to a spokesman for the Guangzhou public security bureau.