Traffic was snarled up for miles and miles, due to the five hour closure of the Haizhu bridge, in the city of Guangzhou. A suicidal, heavily in debt man couldn’t make up his mind.
When passer-by Lai Jianshen, (or is that the ‘Good Samaritan’), got through the police cordon and walked up to shake suicidal Chen Fuchao’s hand, those watching must have expected Lai to talk Chen back off the ledge. Instead, Lai gave Chen a quick hard push, thrusting him off the ledge. Barefooted Lai saluted Chen as he fell.
Lai Jiansheng said, “I pushed him off because people like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest. They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities’ attention to their appeals.”
Chen had accrued 2million yuan ($290,000) debt from a failed construction project.
Chen fell eight metres off the bridge, landing on a partially inflated emergency air cushion.
Eleven other people had tried to take their lives by contemplating jumping off the bridge, since April.
Len was taken away by the police, but released on bail the next day. Len was on medication for mental illness and had been on the way to the hospital for his pills.
Chen suffered spinal and elbow injuries and was recovering in hospital.
Question: What is the difference between assisting a suicidal man and someone assisting a loved one in euthanasia? Is it a criminal offense? Is there any truth that Len has been put on a small retainer, ready to be called next time?
