Brick Wielding Grandpa Attacks Red-light Runners

The daring vigilante act of a retired teacher captured the world’s imagination last month when he smashed the cars of traffic violators with a brick. The three hour spectacle took place in the city of Lanzhou and a total of fourteen cars suffered under the wrath of Yan Zhenping.

Reports claim that the seventy-four year old man armed himself with a brick one night and waited patiently by the pedestrian crossing.

Zhenking and his vigilante justice

Subsequently, he attacked every car that went through the red lights at that crossing point.

The incident took place on the 9^th of July and has since garnered support amongst frustrated pedestrians.

In fact, by the time the police showed up at the scene on the night of the incident, Zhenking had already found a few kindred souls to help him in this endeavor. This support group coupled with the large chanting crowd was probably more telling than the teacher’s brick-smashing spree.

Some reports claim that the gentleman might have continued his brand of geriatric justice after that day if his family had not quietly intervened.

Since then, there has been heated discussions about his actions on various internet forums. Was it blatant destruction of property, some wondered? On the other hand, others noted that his actions were cathartic.

According to them, such vigilantism was the next logical step for anyone frustrated by seemingly apathetic authorities. In their eyes, this was bound to happen in a country where wealth and car ownership is a touchy topic and hit-and-run accidents are becoming common-place.

It seems like authorities are paying close attention to the message behind Zhenking’s brick bashing incident. He has been nabbed as a traffic warden and currently spends his days busy catching traffic violators.

Except, in these cases, he has put aside his vigilante brick for a camera.

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By shinigami on 21-08-2009