Russian Man Goes On Drunken Rampage in Beijing, Reactions

On iFeng:

Beijing: Male Foreign National Under the Influence of Alcohol Hacked At People with Knife, Stole Car, and Hit 4 Vehicles and 1 Person

Original Headline: Laowai Carrying Knife That Stole Car Injuring 2 People Subdued

Beijing News report, police bulletin, yesterday [October 12th] afternoon at 3:36pm, 110 [the number for police] received a report that a male foreigner dining at a Jianguomen hotel under the influence of alcohol took the restaurant’s kitchen knives and hacked and injured a server, then forcibly drove off with a passenger car. At 4:03pm, civilian police arrested the suspect near the scene of the incidents. At present, the suspect’s motive and situation is under investigation.

Multiple eyewitnesses say that around 3:40pm in the afternoon of the 12th that outside the Jianguomen Jianwai Hutong Jingduyuan Hotel, a male foreign national brandishing two kitchen knives stole an automobile and drove away. Afterward, the car hit 4 cars in a row near the intersection between JIanguomen Street and Jianhua South Road, causing at least one pedestrian injury.

Witnesses say this man had signs of being drunk and his mental state is suspected of being abnormal. As he approached Jianhua South Road, he successively hit a minivan, two taxis, and one public bus, then drove onto the Jianhua Road sidewalk and knocked down a pedestrian.

Afterward, the man abandoned the car and fled on foot, ultimately being subdued by two kind-hearted city residents and police officers.

Last night [October 12th], the Jingduyuan Hotel manager on duty, Ms. Zhu, said that this male foreign national was a guest of the hotel, “is Russian, checked in this morning, and had already drunk a lot of alcohol when he arrived. I even told the service staff to keep an eye on him, but didn’t expect that something would happen so quickly that afternoon.”

Scene One: “Choking the Car Owner” and Stealing the Car

According to accounts from multiple witnesses, this man had two kitchen knives in his hands, walked from the Jingduyuan Hotel to the Jianwai Hutong East Gate, making gestures towards pedestrians and cars the entire way, before then carjacking a car and driving away.

Brandishing a Knife Gesturing at Passersby

“The laowai was 1.8m tall, wearing short-sleeves and shorts, had a sturdy build, holding two kitchen knives, and would approach those he saw making gestures.” Yesterday [October 12th], at around 3:40pm in the afternoon, Mr. Tan walked out from the Beijing High Court and encountered this male foreign national.

This man waved his knives at Mr. Tan and multiple other people around him, “and he was muttering something, which I heard as Russian when I got close,” Mr. Tan said. The man’s mental state appeared to be not very normal, “like he had just used drugs.”

In the Jingduyuan Hotel across the High Court, a security guard was also taken aback by this knife brandishing laowai. “He’s a guest of our hotel, and initially had waved the knife around as he walked out of the hotel lobby.”

Mr. Tan says he heard this male foreign national had hacked and injured a server in a restaurant. Last night police confirmed this.

Forced Car Owner to Open Door at Knife-Point

Multiple eyewitnesses say this man would approach all of the cars stopped on the side of the road brandishing his knife making gestures. Mr. Han’s car very very narrowly escaped being the man’s target. “If I had opened my car door, the car that would’ve been jacked would’ve been mine.”

Around 4pm in the afternoon, Mr. Han was driving back to work, entering Jianwai Hutong to the south of the Jingduyuan Hotel from Dongerhuanfu Road.

“Suddenly I saw two flashing kitchen knives, brand new,” Mr. Han said. Just as I came to a stop, a male foreign national walked over, “brandishing a kitchen knife in each hand”. As he approached the side of Mr. Han’s car, he gestured for him to get out of the car.

Mr. Han quickly pressed the central door locks, and afraid of the glass being broken, he also subconsciously ducked away. The male foreign national, seeing that Mr. Han was not getting out of the car, then brandished his knives gesturing to another two passersby.

Brandishing Knives to Steal a Car and Drive Away

This male foreign national walked around carrying the knives gesturing until he reached Jianway Hutong’s East Gate. Here, at the East Gate T-intersection, a black Buick had just recently stopped.

“I was just about to wash the car,” said Mr. Zhang who provides road-side car-washing services. The owner of the Buick is a middle-aged man and was at the time standing by the car waiting.

Not far away, Mr. Tan saw the male foreign national raise a knife towards the Buick car owner. “After the car owner flinched away, he was choked by the ‘laowai‘ around the neck. just like a hostage scene.” Mr. Tan hastily called the police, “the ‘laowai‘ very quickly released the car owner, saw that the car door had not been closed, forcibly got into the driver’s seat, and drove off with the car.”

“The car owner chased for a bit at first, and had nearly grabbed onto the door, but the ‘laowai‘ stepped on the gas and drove off.” Mr. Zhang says.

Scene Two: Pedestrian Hit and Flung into the Green Belt

Multiple witnesses say the male foreign national drove the black Buick towards Jianwai Street, and caused a series of car accidents near the Jianguomenwai Street and Jianhua South Road intersection.

Ran Over Center Divider

Mr. Lu, an attendant for a parking lot on Jianhua South Road, saw a black Buick shoot out from a small road and hit a small van. “The Buick even stopped for a moment, the driver was a laowai,” said Mr. Lu. The Buick then immediately shot forward onto the curb in the middle of the road, hit a taxi, knocked over the center divider rail, then hit yet another taxi, and then drove into the non-motor-vehicle lane. “The car had ran over the center divider, without any intention of stopping,” Mr. Lu said.

“I heard someone scream and before I got outside, the car had already squealing past.” A newspaper stand vendor says at the Jianguomenwai Street and Jianhua South Road intersection, the Buick then hit the back end of a Route 728 public bus, “the engine cover on the rear of the public bus flew open from the hit.”

The Laowai Fled After Getting Out of the Car

The Buick still did not stop, passed through Jianwai Street and entered Jianhua Road where it then hit and knocked down a pedestrian at the intersection sidewalk waiting for the light.

This traffic assistant at this intersection says the young man that was hit was around 30 years old, “didn’t have time to jump away, and was directly hit and thrown onto the green belt”. The Buick also drove onto the green belt into the fencing, “driving in very deep, the fencing all embedded into the front of the car, finally stopping the car.”

Witnesses say the young man who was hit was knocked down in the green belt, “his shoulder was bleeding”, and the ambulance that arrived rushed him off to the hospital. “After the Buick came to a stop, a laowai got out, and ran towards the Friendship Store.

A sanitation worker on his shift at the Friendship Store saw a laowai with blood all over his face run into the Friendship Store, “and people chased in after him”. The laowai then ran out through the side door.

Cook Subdues Laowai

At a restaurant outside the Friendship Store, Chen Xiaobin was holding a meeting with his cooks.

This executive chef saw a laowaI barge in and ran towards the kitchen. Behind him was a bespectacled young man, “shouting that the laowai had caused trouble and was fleeing.”

Chen Xiaobin got up and rushed into the back kitchen where the laowai once again ran out of the restaurant. Him and the young man together ran out after him, and subdued the laowai. “He reeked of alcohol from head to toe, didn’t fight us at all, and only tried to escape repeatedly but was held under control”. Immediately afterard, Chen Xiaobin called the police.

Chen Xiaobin says multiple SWAT police arrived and took the male foreign national away for investigation.

Comments on Mop:

啊！怎么会这样子:

It’s over, when I saw the two words “foreign national”, my first thought was that it was of someone outside of the province [waidiren, in this case, not a Beijing local but a migrant]…

黑色巨吊:

Real life version of Sleeping Dogs.

玄远21:

Beat this bastard until he’s crippled…!

俺猛擼大師:

Russian. Gone crazy.

北方的秋天:

Let the crowd first beat him up then call the police.

野牛0:

Was this person actually drunk?

嘻哈蟑螂:

China’s Erguotou is still the most awesome!

玄远21:

He should at least be convicted of robbery…
[But] I bet no one will dare sentence him.
[Because] this bastard is a foreigner…

Comments on Sina Weibo:

周1琪2：

[Will be deemed] Innocent and released.

洛水无花微博达人：

@平安北京[Beijing Police Sina Weibo account] Are you guys going to handle this like you handled the “Xuanwumen British Laowai Who Sexually Assaulted A Chinese Girl“, simply fining this lowly laowai a bit of money then deporting him without punishment!? Are you then going to blacklist all the people who keep asking about it and questioning it?!!!

蓝色弧线-微博达人：

China’s visas are too easy to get~~~

H浩克：

Why is that laowai in China are always given preferential treatment while our countrymen abroad are always discriminated against? Why?

天才子文：

I bet it’ll just be a fine and deportation without punishment. Isn’t that how our government has always handled these things?

John_Smith桑微博达人：

A nation of warriors…except the vodka transformation system had a malfunction…

土狼1968：

Just how are you Beijing public security forces safeguarding the 18th National Congress that you can let this kind of thing happen on Chang’an Avenue, so embarrassing! Are you doing right by your superiors [government leaders]!?

仁孚汽修Roger牛魔王爱小黑：

I bet he’s Russian. [The Sina microblog post did not provide this detail.]

凸啊凸啊就习惯了：

Came to China to play real life GTA.

KanyeWest：

Will be released by tomorrow.

昌平大夫：

The laowai rape case from awhile ago, how come we haven’t heard any news about that?!

我会连她那份一起变强：

I wonder if China dares to charge/convict a Russian or not.

李路X2微博达人：

Attacked by foreigners when abroad, attacked by foreigners when at home, smells a little like the Qing government.

张勇是人鱼胖哥是胖小鱼的准爹地微博达人：

In the end, he’ll be still released anyway.

龙皇贝纳：

[We] must not let just anyone come [into the country], why is it always only them restricting us from going [into their countries]?

浚龙o0OhMyGOD：

The T-Virus is about to spread into China.

我不是俞巍：

After a few days there will be no problem and he’ll be released, [after all] who dares to do anything about foreigners, harmonious must be harmonized.

巨蟹的小悲伤：

Even if this bastard is arrested, he’ll still be released within 2 days.

月轮上的噩梦：

I came to read the comments~ Grand Theft Auto Taken

黑皮有木有：

Fortunately it’s not a Japanese person.

What do you think? Do foreigners often escape punishment for their crimes in China? Do Chinese netizens have cause to believe foreigners enjoy preferential treatment under Chinese law in these situations?