Recently, an incident in which a police car forced a private vehicle to stop on a highway in Hubei has sparked high levels of public attention. Netizens have raised questions about retaliatory law enforcement by the police and revealed that the T-shirt worn by one of the involved officers is valued at 4400 yuan (RMB).
A video recorded by a dashcam in a private car circulated on mainland China’s internet, showing that on the afternoon of May 10, a white police car violated regulations by intercepting the private car on the highway.
In the circulated video, both cars were initially driving normally, with the private car in the left overtaking lane and the white police car in the right lane. Suddenly, the white police car attempted to change lanes to the left while sounding its siren. Upon realizing the police car’s lane changing intention, the private car accelerated to overtake a red truck on the lane, changing lanes. Subsequently, the white police car overtook the private car from the left side and forced it to stop on the emergency lane.
Two men in uniforms demanded the driver of the private car to present their “driver’s license, vehicle registration,” and questioned why they did not yield to the official vehicle.
Netizens have criticized the police for reckless driving and suspected them of using their authority for retaliatory law enforcement, also disclosing that one of the involved officers wore a T-shirt worth 4400 yuan.
“Who is right and who is wrong, is there a need to ask? Changing lanes without signaling, no siren, no flashing lights, no uniform while driving a police car, stopping on the highway shoulder, is it legal for an official police vehicle to use the emergency lane like that, this is road rage behavior.” “If you didn’t know, you’d think it’s the mafia.” “Not only abusing power but also reckless driving, endangering public safety, must be sentenced.”
On May 14, “Red Star News” reported that staff from the Hubei Highway Patrol Third Brigade stated that the involved police car was not a highway traffic police vehicle but a local police car. According to the “Xiaoxiang Morning News,” the Hubei Highway Patrol Third Brigade and the Public Security Bureau of Songzi City, Jingzhou, responded, stating that the police car belonged to the Songzi City Public Security Bureau of Jingzhou City, and both men in black clothes in the police car were active duty police officers.
Following the public attention, on May 16, the Public Security Bureau of Songzi City, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, announced that the involved officers were Cen and Luo from the Public Security Bureau, who intercepted the private car by overtaking and stopping it while on duty on May 10. On the afternoon of May 11, both officers were suspended from their positions.
Last year, in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, local officials’ vehicles repeatedly cut off and forcibly stopped a tourist bus. Tourists claimed that one official in the local vehicle had an arrogant attitude, and after reporting the incident, only the driver of the vehicle verbally apologized. Subsequently, the county Discipline Inspection Commission only conducted an investigation into the officials involved. Fenghuang County also demanded that tourists delete the online video.