Police chief sacked for concealing son's crime

The police chief of Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, has been dismissed from his post due to a scandal involving his role in covering up his son's drunk driving offense.

The decision was made on Friday at a session of the 13th Taiyuan Municipal People's Congress, the local legislature, which appointed Liu Suiji to replace Li Yali as the city's police chief.

Li, also former deputy police chief of Shanxi Province, had already been placed on probation within the Communist Party of China (CPC) for one year over accusations that he attempted to cover up his son's drunk driving offense.

A video showing Li's son, Li Zhengyuan, beating up a police officer went viral after it was posted to Chinese social media sites on Oct. 28, 2012.

The video 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.

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

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

It also shows that Li had committed other transgressions related to organization and personnel matters.

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 for the investigation to proceed.