Passer-by pushes suicide jumper in south China

[Kadie]

Passer-by pushes suicide jumper in south China

Saturday, May 23, 2009


(05-23) 01:34 PDT BEIJING, China (AP) --

Chen Fuchao, a man heavily in debt, had been contemplating suicide on a bridge in southern China for hours when a passer-by came up, shook his hand — and pushed him off the ledge.

Chen fell 26 feet (8 meters) onto a partially inflated emergency air cushion laid out by authorities and survived, suffering spine and elbow injuries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

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.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lai was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."


more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/22/international/i225847D66.DTL&tsp=1

[annabanana]

1. Lai Jiansheng must be a republican. . . . n/t

[JVS]

5. Mr. Lai is from an age where businessmen crying over unsuccessful business projects got harsher...

treatment than he just dished out. I'm guessing the guy he pushed is the more republican of the two.

[rcrush]

2. In China if you want to kill yourself you better be ready

No time for dilly dallying!

[Truth2Tell]

3. Hope he's charged with attempted murder. nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

7. Not likely with the air mattress there

Otherwise it might be. (Though admittedly I know nothing of the Chinese legal system)

[JVS]

4. And Mr. Lai wins the grizzled old man competition.

[get the red out]

6. Probably a veteran of the "cultural revolution"

Probably sorry the guy he pushed didn't die.

[ClarkUSA]

8. The Chinese version of "Grumpy Old Men" has found its star.

[JVS]

9. It can be a buddy pic with him and bus uncle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSHziqJWYcM

[theoldman]

10. I guess it's shit or get off the pot. LOL

People who really want to commit suicide eventually do it. If I could get that close to a person I would have pulled him back.

[Occam Bandage]

11. 26 feet? What kind of suicide jump is that?

Sure, it might kill you. But it's also likely to leave you alive (for the time being) while causing all sorts of broken bones and internal injuries. If you're going to jump, why jump from such a low height?

[Deja Q]

14. 125 feet is the absolute minimum, and even then...

26 feet is nothing.

Success isn't guaranteed if jumping off a 5 storey building.

Hell, they should just sell painless fast-acting drugs OTC. You know, the same sorts that get injected into mass murderers and repeat rapists at taxpayer expense, despite what they did caused was anything but fast-acting or painless...

[MrSlayer]

12. No harm, no foul.

That's pretty funny.

[demodonkey]

13. Last line of the article: "Chen was recovering in the hospital, Xinhua said."

I sure hope China has single-payer healthcare for all, or Chen will be even more heavily in debt. He sure would be in the good old USofA!