Policeman detained in Henan baby street assault case

The policeman suspected of hurling a 7-month-old girl to the ground on July 20 in Linzhou, Central China's Henan Province, was detained by local police on Saturday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The victim, Yueyue, was treated for a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain at a hospital in Anyang, but she has been taken to Beijing for further medical examinations, the local government said on Saturday.

Yueyue's parents were carrying her during a walk after supper on July 20. They encountered the suspect, Guo Zengxi, a local policeman, in front of a cabaret around 9 pm.

Guo, in his 50s, was with two companions. The victim's father, Lin Qingfeng, said the three men were obviously drunk as they were walking erratically, and smelled of alcohol.

According to Lin, Guo, who was not in uniform, touched the baby girl's face and arm, and at the time, he thought Guo was being friendly so did not stop him.

However, "what happened next really shocked me and my wife," Lin said, as Guo suddenly grabbed the girl, lifted her over his head and hurled her to the ground.

The couple rushed the girl to hospital, and did not return to the scene.

On Sunday, Guo Fajie, the head of police in Anyang, told Xinhua that Guo Zengxi has been transferred to an Anyang detention center and that a team is investigating the case.

When reached by the Global Times, the Anyang Public Security Bureau did not disclose any more details of the case.

"As to this case, even if the victim fully recovers, Guo Zengxi may still be sued for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble," Chen Tao, a lawyer from Beijing Junyong Law Firm, told the Global Times.

Chen added that the fact that Guo is a policeman is likely to be taken into account when he is sentenced.

A similar case occurred in Daxing district of Beijing on July 23, when a Beijing native picked up a two-year-old girl and brutally threw her to the ground during an argument with her mother over a parking space. The girl died from her injuries two days later. Police detained the man on July 25.

The case was transferred to the First Branch of Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate on Wednesday.