Steer to Kill

[Teacher Mark 53]

“Help me!” the 16-year-old girl cried out in terror as she was laying on the road, her legs crushed beneath the tires of a truck.

Passersby screamed at the driver to move off the girl, but he instead moved the truck forward and knocked over a motorbike a witness had placed in the way. He then backed up over the girl and stopped to shift gears before running over her a third time and driving off.

The victim, Nguyen Thi Hoi, was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries and died.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court has just sentenced the 25- year-old driver, Dang Huu Anh Tuan, to eight years in prison for the murder that occurred on May 14 last year. He was also ordered to pay VND75 million (US$3,933) in compensation to the victim’s family.

The decision has outraged the public and local lawyers who feel that Tuan’s act was a cold-blooded killing and deserved at least a life-sentence.

“I am still horrified by the sound of [the girl’s] bones crushing under the huge vehicle, the girl’s desperate waves for help in pain and Tuan’s cold face,” said Le Phuoc Tuoi, an eyewitness who had tried to help the girl before chasing down the fleeing truck driver.

Reading the sentence on May 24, judges at the court said that Tuan’s clean record and his immediate payment of VND20 million in compensation were reasons for the lenient sentence. The HCMC Prosecutor’s Office appealed the sentence on March 29 and requested a stiffer sentence for Tuan. The office had proposed jail terms of between 11-12 years at the outset of the initial trial.

At the trial, Tuan admitted he was aware of what he was doing, and he heard the passersby telling him to back up the truck to save the girl. He said he didn’t do so because he was “too confused” and “frightened.”

Sadly, Tuan’s case is not the only one. Truck drivers often say it’s better to kill someone in an accident than injure them. The logic, half urban legend, half real, is that those responsible for injuries have to pay compensation for the rest of a victim’s life, while those who kill someone in a traffic accident only make a one-off payment and possibly a short jail sentence.

‘Brutality of humanity’

Hoi was run over on Luy Ban Bich Street in Tan Phu District as she returned home from work at a nearby café to her house in a small alley on Thoai Ngoc Hau Street, where she shared a two-square meter space with her poor family.

Hoi’s mother is currently serving a 15-year sentence for drug smuggling. Observers have been quick to point out that her sentence for drugs was nearly double what

Tuan got for the murder of a young girl. Analysts have also wondered whether Tuan would have gotten off so easy had Hoi’s mother been a business owner or a prominent member of society.

Her 77-year-old grandmother Nguyen Thi Mai said the family had been unable to visit her daughter since Hoi’s death as they are unable to afford bus tickets.

Hoi’s father, a migrant worker, has taken up with another woman when his wife was sentenced

Hoi and her 13-year-old sister had hawked lottery tickets for a living before Hoi got a job at a café a year before her death.

Nguyen Thi Mai, grandmother of Nguyen Thi Hoi, in their two-square-meter house in HCMC’s Tan Phu District. Hoi died last May after a truck driver ran over her three times before running away.

“We had to place her coffin on the sidewalk during the funeral because the house and the alley were too small,” Mai said, adding that they had to borrow illegal high-interest loans of VND60 million from shady loan sharks for the funeral.

The family still owed VND40 million in loans after using Tuan’s VND20 million in compensation.

Mai was still visibly shaken as she discussed the event, more than a year after it happened.

“Hoi didn’t die because of a traffic accident, she died because of the brutality of humanity. It would have been less miserable if she had just lost her legs; at least then I could still see her everyday.”

But the grandmother was also full of compassion: “I don’t wish the defendant to be in jail for one or two years more. I only want the verdict to be carried out soon so that I have money to pay my debt. I won’t appeal.”

Fatal conception

Truck drivers were quick to condemn Tuan’s actions, as the public pointed its finger at truck-driver culture and legal loopholes that allow motorists to get away with murder.

Critics have pointed out the gross-double standard, wondering if murderers should get off the hook easier than violent criminals who only disable their victims.

Vuong Minh Hoa, a truck driver in the central province of Quang Nam, said drivers should always help victims of traffic accidents. “I was frustrated by Tuan’s behavior. It was inhuman and should receive an extremely strict penalty.

“Tuan’s act was so brutal,” said Thanh Nien reader Tran Quang Dieu of HCMC. “What was his motivation? Was it his own coldness or is it because truck owners told him to follow the compensation principle?

Reader Doan Hong Phu of the southern province of Dong Nai echoed Dieu and other readers who said that the principle was followed by many drivers. “This is selfish and inhuman thinking,” he added. Some observers have pointed out that drivers are pressured to carry out orders ludicrously and most believe they can fall back on truck owners to pay any one-time compensation for accidents.

RULE OF LAW

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau of the HCMC Bar Association confirmed that Vietnamese laws do in some ways favor drivers held responsible for deaths in traffic accidents over those held responsible for serious injuries.

He said drivers would have to take care of people they injured until the end of their lives if the victims become disabled and are unable to work. But they only have to pay once, and possibly do a little jail time, if the victims die.

He also said procedures for compensation in fatal cases were also simpler than those in injury cases.

But he was clear as to what the law was getting wrong:

“There should be higher compensation in fatal cases,” he said.

Huynh Van Nong, another attorney from the association, said the compensation in fatal cases was “almost nothing in comparison with damages that the victims and their relatives suffer.”

“Authorities should review compensation practices in fatal cases to ensure humanity and the respect of human lives,” he said.

Drivers also know that if they are slick about killing a road-accident victim, they’ll only face minimal road rule violation penalties and escape murder charges altogether, so long as police find no proof.

“In reality, finding witnesses and corroboration that the driver deliberately murdered a road accident victim is extremely tough,” said Nong.

DEADLY PRECEDENT

On March 30, 2010, Nam Dinh Province People’s Court sentenced a taxi driver to nine years in jail for hitting a woman and dragging her to her death for 1.4 kilometers in November last year.

On November 15, 2009, Nguyen Viet Hai, 26, driver of the An Hoa International Trading Joint Stock Company, was carrying passengers in his taxi at around 10 p.m. when he hit Dang Thi Minh Loan at the Mac Thi Buoi - Quang Trung crossroads.

Loan was stuck under the seven-seater but Hai didn’t stop even after the passengers told him to do so, according to the indictment. He only stopped 1.4 kilometers away to remove the body before he continued the journey.

However, he was only charged with violating road regulations because the board of judges said the postmortem examination failed to identify when she died.

In April 2007, Tay Ninh Province People’s Court handed down a 20-year sentence against Huynh Van Nhan for deliberately running over a man he had hit with his tractor.

According to the indictment, Nhan seriously hit the man at night and decided to run over the victim for the second time to avoid having to provide support to the disabled victim for his whole life.

In 2003, a truck driver was accused of deliberately backing up his truck to kill two people he had accidentally hit in a traffic accident in HCMC’s Cu Chi District.

RULE OF LAW

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau of the HCMC Bar Association confirmed that Vietnamese laws do in some ways favor drivers held responsible for deaths in traffic accidents over those held responsible for serious injuries.

He said drivers would have to take care of people they injured until the end of their lives if the victims become disabled and are unable to work. But they only have to pay once, and possibly do a little jail time, if the victims die.

He also said procedures for compensation in fatal cases were also simpler than those in injury cases.

But he was clear as to what the law was getting wrong:

“There should be higher compensation in fatal cases,” he said.

Huynh Van Nong, another attorney from the association, said the compensation in fatal cases was “almost nothing in comparison with damages that the victims and their relatives suffer.”

“Authorities should review compensation practices in fatal cases to ensure humanity and the respect of human lives,” he said.

Drivers also know that if they are slick about killing a road-accident victim, they’ll only face minimal road rule violation penalties and escape murder charges altogether, so long as police find no proof.

“In reality, finding witnesses and corroboration that the driver deliberately murdered a road accident victim is extremely tough,” said Nong.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/Steer-to-kill.aspx

Edited April 8, 2010 by Mr. Saigon

[Dau Que 6]

That's why whenever I heard someone saying this "I'm going to back to VN to live because the living cost there is dirt cheap", I simply laugh. Money isn't everything in life. And VN is NOT a place I wanna live, unless I'm forced to, against my will.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Dau Que

[BinhJerome 14]

That's why whenever I heard someone saying this "I'm going to back to VN to live because the living cost there is dirt cheap", I simply laugh. Money isn't everything in life. And VN is NOT a place I wanna live, unless I'm forced to, against my will.

What about the crack heads that will kill you for $10 crack rock? Or worse yet what about the little gang banger that wants in a gang so he has to go out and make a random killing? It is not the best in any country, and there are things all over the world that are crappy, yes under four thousand for a child is pathetic, but honestly, I would not even want 10 million for Binh, I would only want her, not any amount of money would EVER replace her. I have lived in bad places in america, and honestly I have not seen anyone ran over anytrip I have been here, and hope I never do, but I have seen people shot and stabbed in America as well as numerous other things. Home is where your heart is, you just have to learn to deal with the things agound you, I guess that while living in Vietnam I will just have to deal with the fact that if I get ran over I better try to crawl to safety, or hope I can roll out of the way for the second attempt. But to say that I would never wanna live in America again unless I'm forced to, against my will, is something I would not say, but what I would say is that I would rather live where I am now and deal with the problems that are in Vietnam rather than the ones in America. Jerome

[luckytxn 2,264]

Don't know if I ever want to go back to VN. Wow.

[Tuanv 2]

This is really #### up! Life is cheap over there. Personally, that's why I do not like to go back there.

Check out the last four photos in this page: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?177418-Friday-s-FIX-of-PIX!!-April-9th-2010.

I am sure this guy will get a lenient sentence too

[Tuanv 2]

This is really #### up! Life is cheap over there. Personally, that's why I do not like to go back there.

Check out the last four photos in this page: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?177418-Friday-s-FIX-of-PIX!!-April-9th-2010.

I am sure this guy will get a lenient sentence too

TAIZHOU, CHINA - APRIL 06: The crashed BMW is seen at the accident scene on April 6, 2010 in Sanmen County, Taizhou city, Zhejiang province of China. Yang Shuzhong, a people's congress deputy of Taizhou, has rammed into 8 cars, killed four people and injured six others while driving his BMW under the influence of alcohol on Tuesday early morning. Yang has been detained by the police.

[BinhJerome 14]

TAIZHOU, CHINA - APRIL 06: The crashed BMW is seen at the accident scene on April 6, 2010 in Sanmen County, Taizhou city, Zhejiang province of China. Yang Shuzhong, a people's congress deputy of Taizhou, has rammed into 8 cars, killed four people and injured six others while driving his BMW under the influence of alcohol on Tuesday early morning. Yang has been detained by the police.

he got sentenced to death read the attachments on the other photos

[Tuanv 2]

he got sentenced to death read the attachments on the other photos

So, he got sentenced three days after the accident? That's pretty quick!

[BinhJerome 14]

So, he got sentenced three days after the accident? That's pretty quick!

I guess I needed to read, that was a doctor killing children that got sentenced to death, but he is in China, and they sentence far more people to death than in any other country including the US, hopefully that trend will follow with this case

[Tuanv 2]

I guess I needed to read, that was a doctor killing children that got sentenced to death, but he is in China, and they sentence far more people to death than in any other country including the US, hopefully that trend will follow with this case

This guy is a big shot in China, so probably not. I don't think they even have a law against drunk driving over there.

[BinhJerome 14]

This guy is a big shot in China, so probably not. I don't think they even have a law against drunk driving over there.

Maybe not, but i thought there was something about many complaints from this guy just being a butt or something like that, lets just hope they are sick of his antics and let him get some serious time out of it

[lindal24 1]

Update to this story:

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20100429173746.aspx

Killer truck driver's sentence doubled

Last updated: 4/29/2010 17:30

Dang Huu Anh Tuan ® is escorted by police to the court

A truck driver who killed a girl by running over her three times was sentenced to 18 years in jail at an appeal Thursday after his previous 8-year sentence had sparked cries of bloody murder.

Dang Huu Anh Tuan, 25, said sheer panic had prompted him to drive over the girl twice more after accidentaly running over her once.

But judges from the Supreme People’s Court rejected the excuse, the local newswire Vnexpress reported.

On the night of May 14, 2008, Tuan, from the south central province of Binh Thuan, was driving a container truck when he hit Nguyen Thi Hoi, who was driving a motorbike, in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Hoi cried out for help and passersby asked Tuan to back the truck up so they could pull her out from under its wheels. But Tuan continued to drive forward, running over Hoi again.

He then put the truck in reverse and ran over the girl a third time, the indictment said.

Tuan said at his trial that he was a new truck driver and was terrified when people at the site of the accident began yelling at him.

But the judges said that Tuan was calm enough to talk on the phone and cleverly turn left to avoid other vehicles and make his escape.

In the initial trial, Tuan had said he was so panicked he threw away his phone. But eyewitness Le Van Tuoi said Tuan had taken out his phone to call some one before he fled the scene.

Tuan then admitted he had just wanted to escape and didn’t care about the person trapped under the truck.

Ho Chi Minh City prosecutors had appealed Tuan's original sentence late last month.

Later in April, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Vietnam’s top prosecutors office, had proposed that Tuan face murder charges punishable by death.

[Dai. 7]

yeah the main reason why a lot of truck drivers try to make sure the victim is dead is because if the victim survives then the driver is responsible for the person for the rest of their life supporting a disabled person. Drivers try to get away and make sure they kill the person so that Only have to pay one bill for the funeral of the victim. I am glad I left that country because of stupid things like this.