Driver under fire for obstructing ambulance

A woman driver in east China's Shandong province has sparked a public furor after she knocked down a mother and her child last week and forcibly obstructed them receiving medical care.

The four-year-old girl subsequently died.

The driver, 36-year-old Zhang Yan, is a local medical school teacher. She has been detained by police and her family members have requested a mental illness test.

Zhang knocked down the girl and her mother, a cyclist surnamed Wang, while driving a Honda Fit in her residential community in Lanshan district of Linyi city on June 17.

An online video of the incident shows that when an ambulance arrives, Zhang takes off her clothes and lies naked in front of the vehicle, obstructing it from getting close to the victims.

The five-minute video, shot by a witness and uploaded onto the web, then shows medical workers carrying the victims on stretchers to the ambulance.

But when they reach the vehicle, Zhang suddenly stands up, elbows away a nurse, takes the child by force and throws her on the ground before she lies back in front of the ambulance.

When the ambulance finally starts to leave with the victims aboard, Zhang clings desperately to the vehicle trying to stop it before being persuaded to let go.

The girl died at the People's Hospital in Linyi on the same day and her mother is still in critical condition. "We are not certain if she will survive -- she's been in a coma for 10 days," said Dr. Li Jian.

The incident has caused an uproar among Internet users. Many comments online accuse Zhang of feigning mania to avoid punishment.

A witness said Zhang was apparently speeding when the accident happened, as a road sign in the community showed the speed limit as 5 km per hour.

"But she was driving so fast that her car nearly knocked over a parked cross-country vehicle," said Mr. Yu, a resident in the community who witnessed the accident. "Even after she hit the mother and child, she refused to stop and hit five other vehicles."

Her car came to a stop after hitting the cement platform of a parterre, said Yu, 68.

"The girl was still breathing and her limbs were moving," he said. "She might have survived had the driver not caused so much trouble."

The dead girl's uncle Wang Lewen said Zhang and the victims lived in the same community and were not known to have been involved in any conflict. "She has the right to demand a mental illness test, but we are pretty certain she's not mentally ill."

The public security bureau of Linyi said police detained the suspect on June 18 for disrupting public security.

"She is a teacher at a medical school in Linyi," the bureau said in a statement Thursday.

Officials with the bureau rejected Xinhua's request for an interview Thursday, saying the case was under investigation and no details could be published at the moment.

Neighbors said Zhang was in a rage after quarreling with her husband, who allegedly had a mistress and demanded a divorce.

The incident reminded the public of another in October 2010 when Yao Jiaxin, a junior student at the Xi'an Conservatory of Music, knocked down a young mother cyclist while driving and then stabbed her to death.

Yao said he murdered the woman because he feared she would keep harassing him and his family to pay her medical costs. He was sentenced to death and executed last year.

Many people have claimed Zhang's act was even more monstrous.

"Speeding in a residential area was already a big mistake, and she went further by obstructing first-aid," said Prof. Wang Zhongwu, a sociologist with Shandong University.

"It only brings more severe penalties," said Jinan-based lawyer Fu Qiang. "She may face the death penalty if she's diagnosed to be mentally healthy."