N China police chief punished for concealing son's crime

A deputy police chief in north China's Shanxi Province has been placed on probation for covering up his son's drunk driving.

Li Yali, deputy police chief of Shanxi and police chief of the provincial capital of Taiyuan, will be on probation within the Communist Party of China (CPC) for one year, the CPC's provincial discipline and inspection authority announced Sunday.

The authority said the provincial government, as well as the government of Taiyuan, should remove Li from from his police posts.

The CPC Constitution states that CPC members on probation are forbidden from voting or otherwise participating in CPC elections, as well as calls for members on probation to be expelled from the CPC if they do not correct their wrongdoings.

Li was suspended from his police posts, as well as removed from his post as CPC secretary of the Taiyuan public security bureau, on Dec. 7 in order to cooperate in an investigation following a whistleblower's report that claimed Li had used his position to cover up his son's drunk driving.

An investigation by the CPC discipline authority found that Li had abused his power, a form of official misconduct, while handling his son's offense.

The investigation showed that Li had committed other wrongdoings related to organization and personnel matters.

A video showing Li's son Li Zhengyuan beating up a police officer made the rounds online after being uploaded to Chinese social media sites on Oct. 28, 2012.

The tape shows Li Zhengyuan assaulting an officer after being stopped for a traffic violation. Officers at the scene then forced him to take a blood alcohol test, the results of which indicated that he had been drunk driving.

However, instead of taking him into custody, some other officers walked him home.