Fatal Moment! 10-Year-Old Boy Throws Fire Extinguisher from High Altitude, Killing Neighbor
On July 2, a 39-year-old woman surnamed Yuan in Guiyang was tragically killed when she was hit by a fire extinguisher thrown from a height while sun-drying potatoes in her residential compound. The perpetrator turned out to be a 10-year-old boy. According to witnesses, just half an hour before Yuan was killed, another fire extinguisher had been thrown down.
It is not the first time that mischievous children have thrown fire extinguishers from high altitudes. As early as May this year, in a residential community in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, two children around 9 years old threw down 14 fire extinguishers in succession and smashed an electric bike parked downstairs, causing panic among residents. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
Please ensure adults supervise and educate minors properly, and do not let others pay for your child's actions with their lives.
Recently, it seems the tragedy of injuries caused by falling objects from high altitudes has played out yet again, and it's hard to keep count...
June 13
A glass window fell from the 20th floor of a residential building in Shenzhen, Guangdong, striking a boy passing by below. On June 16, the boy died after emergency treatment failed.
June 19
A 10-year-old girl passing by in Nanjing was hit on the head by an object thrown from a height by an 8-year-old boy. The girl's vital signs are currently stable, but she is not completely out of danger and will require intensive care in the later stages.
June 20
A boy in Jiangyin was on his way to school with his sister when they passed a building under renovation. Suddenly, a steel pipe fell and struck the boy on the head, knocking him down instantly. Fortunately, after hospital treatment, the boy is now out of danger.
June 22
A woman in Shenzhen was walking past the exit of Nanshan subway station when she was suddenly hit by a falling dumbbell and collapsed, bleeding profusely from the head.
Someone once calculated that even an egg dropped from a great height can be extremely lethal.
A lawyer from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm stated that throwing objects from heights causing injury is not only a civil tort but may also violate the Criminal Law, leading to criminal liability.
Article 85 of the Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates:
If a building, structure, or other facility, or an object placed or hung on it, falls and causes harm to another person, the owner, manager, or user shall bear tort liability unless they can prove that they were not at fault. After the owner, manager, or user has compensated, if there are other responsible parties, they have the right to seek recourse from those other parties.
Article 87 of the Tort Liability Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates:
If an object thrown from a building or falling from a building causes harm to another person, and it is difficult to identify the specific tortfeasor, compensation shall be paid by the possible users of the building who may have caused the harm, unless they can prove that they are not the tortfeasor.
Therefore, if the thrower cannot be identified, unless one can prove that they are not the thrower, liability will be jointly borne by all residents living in the building where the incident occurred.
Furthermore, if the actor knows that there are people passing by below the building and that their act of throwing objects is likely to cause injury to passersby, yet still throws objects, resulting in injury or death to others, the thrower may be convicted of intentional homicide, intentional injury, negligently causing serious injury, negligently causing death, endangering public safety by dangerous means, etc., with a maximum penalty of death.
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