One night in Beijing
This is a short story about a foreigner in China. He had been involved in an altercation in Beijing, whilst on a night out at a bar. Apparently, he had been standing outside a bar smoking a cigarette when a drunken man walked up to him and pushed him. He responded by pushing the drunken man. Apparently, the push was gentle, but drunken man fell down.
We were advised that upon falling down, the drunken man started to scream and scratch his own face. At this point the foreigner walked away and back into the bar where he had been drinking.
At some point the drunken man called the local police. The police conducted a search of the area and found the foreigner. He was arrested and taken to a local police station jail cell. From there, he was taken to another police station and another jail cell.
Following a conversation with the police, he was advised that the drunken man wanted 10,000 RMB of compensation for injuries allegedly sustained as a result of the push. The police said that if the drunken man was adequately compensated, that no charges would be pressed.
Apparently the drunken man was suffering from fall related injuries and scratches to the face.
At some point after this, he contacted us. He told us that the push that he gave the drunken man should not have been sufficient to cause any injury and that the scratches were not his fault. We were able to tell him the following:
1. That he should try to gather evidence in respect of all that he claimed. Said evidence could be from witnesses or from surveillance video. If the foreigner’s version of events could have been confirmed, he would have had little to worry about.
2. That he should request evidence of the injuries. If injuries were more than de minimis, he should make the compensation payment without delay.
3. That he should communicate openly and honestly with the police to help their enquiries.
4. That he should have someone who speaks Chinese with him when attending the police station.
5. That if he was somehow at fault, that the level of liability could be negotiated with the drunken man.
Because of the sums involved, he decided to deal with matters on his own. In the end, a settlement of 5,000 RMB was reached between the parties.
By Chris Fung and Mike Wang.