Opinion / Liu Shinan
Human life worth more than a straw
By Liu Shinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-18 06:47
A customer was killed in a bank by a security guard when he tried to
leave the bank in defiance of the cordon surrounding an armored car
waiting at the gate to transport cash.
The killing happened on April 7 at a commercial bank in Shenyang in the
northeastern province of Liaoning.
It was reported that the man had withdrawn some money from the bank and
was going to leave when the armored car arrived and the escorts forbade
any entry or exit.
The man told the escorts he had to leave immediately because he had some
urgent business to attend to. But the guards stopped him and threatened
to shoot him. The man continued walking toward the door saying, "You
wouldn't dare shoot me." One of the guards then shot him in the face.
The event has caused outrage among the public, including media
commentators, people on the streets and netizens. They all cried "caojian
renming," an idiom literally meaning "taking a human life as if it were
not worth a straw". Many said that the security guard had no reason to
shoot the unarmed man since he posed no danger.
The critics are right. Both witnesses' words and the bank monitor video
show that the man in no way threatened the guards other than with verbal
exchanges. Under the law, bank cash escorts can use force to stop an
attempted robbery and can fire at the suspect only when their own lives
are threatened.
The police are investigating the case but all information available so
far indicates that the man was not a robber and was not in any way
dangerous. It is almost certain that it was a case of "caojian renming ".
More importantly, the sealing of the bank entrance during business hours
(usually for 15 or 20 minutes) is questionable. Both the bank and the
company on the mission of escorting cash are commercial enterprises. They
are not law enforcers.
Who gave them the power to cordon off part of the pedestrian walk to
forbid passage?
They infringed on the civil rights of passers-by and robbed the bank
customers of their personal freedom for their own commercial benefit. Why
should the pedestrians and customers sacrifice their time and right of
way to meet the interests of the two enterprises?
They could well arrange for the cash transport to be done before or after
business hours to avoid causing inconvenience and limiting the freedom of
customers. If this leads to a rise in operating costs, the addition is
part of the intrinsic cost of doing business.
If the armored car's occupation of the pedestrian walk is unavoidable, a
sign of apology should be set by the cordon line to show respect for
pedestrians' right of way. And the guards should try to maintain a
friendly attitude toward passers-by.
In fact, what is usually seen in front of banks throughout the country is
fully armed guards aggressively warning anybody who accidentally walks
too close to the cordon line. Passers-by try to keep a distance from them
and not show any sign - a glance or a hand movement - that might be
misread as ill intent.
In the April 7 killing, the escort company said the guard who shot the
bank customer was "in a highly nervous state" because its employees "work
under great pressure every day".
This explanation is even more frightening. The public's lives are thus
placed in uncertainty. Who knows when a bullet will fly out of the gun
barrel because of an involuntary press of the trigger by a guard "under
great pressure"?
Both banks and escort companies should remember that they are equal
parties with citizens in business and society. They have no right to
bully - let alone kill - common citizens.
(China Daily 04/18/2007 page10)
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