Blog Post #8: Chinese toddler killed in hit-and-run.

A two-year old girl, Wang Yue, died this morning after a hit and run accident in China. She was hit by two oncoming vans where she sustained a brain injury after laying unconscious for seven minutes. Doctors report that she died from organ failure and being brain dead. They also said that there was no effect from the treatment she was given. Cameras at the scene, show the girl being hit by the two vans and eighteen passersby’s not doing anything to help the toddler. The first van struck the little girl, slowed down, then hit her again with the back tire. She was then hit by another van before being pick up by a scrap picker. Of those eighteen people, not one stopped to help due to the countries fear that if a Good Samaritan helps, they will be blamed for the injuries.

When I first decided to cover this story, Wang Yue was still alive but brain dead and on life support. This really upsets me to see that there is not as many good people in the world as I thought. This reminded me of the videos we had to watch about shopping while black and being Hispanic in America. People not willing to help those in need it is becoming a global social problem. Whether it’s something as simple as being harassed for being a different race or as violent as getting gang beaten or hit by a van, people are not stopping to help. This may be due to the fact, like in China, that there are not laws to protected those who help or people simply do not care to help or feel like someone else will. Crimes like this happens in many developing countries with their corrupt bureaucracies and an overbearing state. People do not step up in fear of getting entangled by corrupt officials and police. It's even so bad in some countries, that hospitals refuse to provide care. If I saw this poor toddler laying in a pool of blood, my first instinct would be to call the police. Even if there is no protection, passerby’s could have called the police then left the scene. Each country needs to establish better laws to protect Good Samaritans so something like this will never happen again.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/toddler-in-china-hit-by-2-cars-then-ignored-dies/2011/10/21/gIQAmamL2L_story.html?hpid=z4