Russian Man Goes On Drunken Rampage in Beijing, Reactions
by Fauna on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Photo is of the police officers arresting the suspect after arriving on the scene. Photo: Ma Wei.
On iFeng:
Beijing: Male Foreign National Under the Influence of Alcohol Hacked At People with Knife, Stole Car, and Hit 4 Vehicles and 1 Person
Original Headline: Laowai Carrying Knife That Stole Car Injuring 2 People Subdued
Beijing News report, police bulletin, yesterday [October 12th] afternoon at 3:36pm, 110 [the number for police] received a report that a male foreigner dining at a Jianguomen hotel under the influence of alcohol took the restaurant’s kitchen knives and hacked and injured a server, then forcibly drove off with a passenger car. At 4:03pm, civilian police arrested the suspect near the scene of the incidents. At present, the suspect’s motive and situation is under investigation.
Multiple eyewitnesses say that around 3:40pm in the afternoon of the 12th that outside the Jianguomen Jianwai Hutong Jingduyuan Hotel, a male foreign national brandishing two kitchen knives stole an automobile and drove away. Afterward, the car hit 4 cars in a row near the intersection between JIanguomen Street and Jianhua South Road, causing at least one pedestrian injury.
Photo is of the Jianhua Road intersection where the car that was stolen is in the greenbelt and a pedestrian is on the ground. Photo: Zhang Yanzhao.
Last night [October 12th], the Jingduyuan Hotel manager on duty, Ms. Zhu, said that this male foreign national was a guest of the hotel, “is Russian, checked in this morning, and had already drunk a lot of alcohol when he arrived. I even told the service staff to keep an eye on him, but didn’t expect that something would happen so quickly that afternoon.”
Photo of the accident scene.
According to accounts from multiple witnesses, this man had two kitchen knives in his hands, walked from the Jingduyuan Hotel to the Jianwai Hutong East Gate, making gestures towards pedestrians and cars the entire way, before then carjacking a car and driving away.
Brandishing a Knife Gesturing at Passersby
“The laowai was 1.8m tall, wearing short-sleeves and shorts, had a sturdy build, holding two kitchen knives, and would approach those he saw making gestures.” Yesterday [October 12th], at around 3:40pm in the afternoon, Mr. Tan walked out from the Beijing High Court and encountered this male foreign national. This man waved his knives at Mr. Tan and multiple other people around him, “and he was muttering something, which I heard as Russian when I got close,” Mr. Tan said. The man’s mental state appeared to be not very normal, “like he had just used drugs.”
In the Jingduyuan Hotel across the High Court, a security guard was also taken aback by this knife brandishing laowai. “He’s a guest of our hotel, and initially had waved the knife around as he walked out of the hotel lobby.” Mr. Tan says he heard this male foreign national had hacked and injured a server in a restaurant. Last night police confirmed this.
Photo is of one taxi that had been hit, stopped next to a center divider. Photo: Zhang Yanzhao.
Multiple eyewitnesses say this man would approach all of the cars stopped on the side of the road brandishing his knife making gestures. Mr. Han’s car very very narrowly escaped being the man’s target. “If I had opened my car door, the car that would’ve been jacked would’ve been mine.” Around 4pm in the afternoon, Mr. Han was driving back to work, entering Jianwai Hutong to the south of the Jingduyuan Hotel from Dongerhuanfu Road.
“Suddenly I saw two flashing kitchen knives, brand new,” Mr. Han said. Just as I came to a stop, a male foreign national walked over, “brandishing a kitchen knife in each hand”. As he approached the side of Mr. Han’s car, he gestured for him to get out of the car. Mr. Han quickly pressed the central door locks, and afraid of the glass being broken, he also subconsciously ducked away. The male foreign national, seeing that Mr. Han was not getting out of the car, then brandished his knives gesturing to another two passersby.
Photo of the accident scene.
This male foreign national walked around carrying the knives gesturing until he reached Jianway Hutong’s East Gate. Here, at the East Gate T-intersection, a black Buick had just recently stopped. “I was just about to wash the car,” said Mr. Zhang who provides road-side car-washing services. The owner of the Buick is a middle-aged man and was at the time standing by the car waiting.
Not far away, Mr. Tan saw the male foreign national raise a knife towards the Buick car owner. “After the car owner flinched away, he was choked by the ‘laowai‘ around the neck. just like a hostage scene.” Mr. Tan hastily called the police, “the ‘laowai‘ very quickly released the car owner, saw that the car door had not been closed, forcibly got into the driver’s seat, and drove off with the car.”
“The car owner chased for a bit at first, and had nearly grabbed onto the door, but the ‘laowai‘ stepped on the gas and drove off.” Mr. Zhang says.
Photo of the accident scene.
Multiple witnesses say the male foreign national drove the black Buick towards Jianwai Street, and caused a series of car accidents near the Jianguomenwai Street and Jianhua South Road intersection.
Ran Over Center Divider
Mr. Lu, an attendant for a parking lot on Jianhua South Road, saw a black Buick shoot out from a small road and hit a small van. “The Buick even stopped for a moment, the driver was a laowai,” said Mr. Lu. The Buick then immediately shot forward onto the curb in the middle of the road, hit a taxi, knocked over the center divider rail, then hit yet another taxi, and then drove into the non-motor-vehicle lane. “The car had ran over the center divider, without any intention of stopping,” Mr. Lu said.
“I heard someone scream and before I got outside, the car had already squealing past.” A newspaper stand vendor says at the Jianguomenwai Street and Jianhua South Road intersection, the Buick then hit the back end of a Route 728 public bus, “the engine cover on the rear of the public bus flew open from the hit.”
Photo is of the public bus that was hit.
The Buick still did not stop, passed through Jianwai Street and entered Jianhua Road where it then hit and knocked down a pedestrian at the intersection sidewalk waiting for the light. This traffic assistant at this intersection says the young man that was hit was around 30 years old, “didn’t have time to jump away, and was directly hit and thrown onto the green belt”. The Buick also drove onto the green belt into the fencing, “driving in very deep, the fencing all embedded into the front of the car, finally stopping the car.”
Witnesses say the young man who was hit was knocked down in the green belt, “his shoulder was bleeding”, and the ambulance that arrived rushed him off to the hospital. “After the Buick came to a stop, a laowai got out, and ran towards theFriendship Store. A sanitation worker on his shift at the Friendship Store saw a laowai with blood all over his face run into the Friendship Store, “and people chased in after him”. Thelaowai then ran out through the side door.
Photo of the accident scene.
At a restaurant outside the Friendship Store, Chen Xiaobin was holding a meeting with his cooks.
This executive chef saw a laowaI barge in and ran towards the kitchen. Behind him was a bespectacled young man, “shouting that the laowai had caused trouble and was fleeing.” Chen Xiaobin got up and rushed into the back kitchen where the laowai once again ran out of the restaurant. Him and the young man together ran out after him, and subdued the laowai. “He reeked of alcohol from head to toe, didn’t fight us at all, and only tried to escape repeatedly but was held under control”. Immediately afterard, Chen Xiaobin called the police.
Chen Xiaobin says multiple SWAT police arrived and took the male foreign national away for investigation.
Photo of police investigating on the scene.
Photo of the accident scene, with crowds looking on.
