A man contemplating suicide last Thursday in the southern Chinese city Guangzhou received a less-than-helpful hand when he was pushed from the bridge by an angry onlooker.
Distraught over accumulating 2 million yuan ($290,000) in debt, Chen Fuchao had been contemplating suicide for hours on the Haizhu Bridge before Lai Jiansheng approached him, shook his hand, and pushed him from the ledge where he was standing.
The not-so-gentle nudge caused Chen to fall 26 feet (8 meters) onto a semi-inflated emergency air cushion, laid out earlier by authorities. Chen survived the fall and is recovering in the hospital with injuries to his elbow and spine, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.
As for Lai, push had apparently come to shove for 66-year-old, who called Chen’s activity “selfish.” The area surrounding the bridge had been sealed off during Chen’s suicide attempt, resulting in a five-hour traffic jam.
“I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest,” Lai told Xinhua. “They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities’ attention to their appeals.”
According to Xinhua, Lai asked police if he could speak with Chen. When his offer was refused, he broke through the cordon, climbed to Chen, and greeted him with a handshake and a shove.
Lai was released on bail Friday, reported the Beijing Morning Post. The paper also said Laid has been on medication for “a mental illness” for decades and had been on his way to a hospital for his pills.
The Haizhu Bridge has been the site of 11 other suicide attempts since April.
(link)
alicelockhart
wow. haha da dude pushed him O_o
motochan
Awesome! Best way ever to take care of the silly situation.
miss heat
one hand wash the other i guess
count duckula
If your life was any easier, you'd be in an urn in the ground!
Loudog
Another life lost to the manipulation of money. We shouldn't let money define our lives.
zayzayem
Hail Comrade Lai! For The Greater Good!
lonelyGURLZ
haha.. what a brilliant ways of thinking..
cracker6686
hell yea thats how its done. if you going to get out and do it you better be ready to f-ing do it or it will be done for you and situation is over…. and if your going to even go out and do it make sure fisrt that you dont wait just step off….i wouldnt push nor jump. but is f-ing funny. glad there both ok tho….ha ha ha ha
Robin
Video of it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8069686.s…
There was an inflated cushion to catch the guy who fell. He fell a short way and had a soft landing. The police yanking him out of the cushion probably hurt him more than the fall. The guy who pushed just did the simple and obvious thing…I had to laugh when I saw it!
memadman
He did speed things up. In the states, he would be sued for all he have. How come the police didn't keep him back??
memadman
He did speed things up. In the states, he would be sued for all he have. How come the police didn't keep him back?? They would have been named in the law suit too.
gomp
He called the suicidal man selfish. I think its just as selfish to push someone because he was in a hurry.