Chinese toddler left bloody in hit-and-run dies

Yueyue, a 2-year-old, moments before she is hit by a truck in Foshan City in China. / Chinasmack.com via Youku

BEIJING - A toddler who was twice run over by vans and then ignored by passers-by on a busy market street died Friday a week after the accident and after days of bitter soul-searching over declining morality in China.

The Guangzhou Military District General Hospital said that the 2-year-old girl, Wang Yue, died shortly after midnight of brain and organ failure. "Her injuries were too severe and the treatment had no effect," intensive care unit director Su Lei told reporters.

The plight of the child, nicknamed Yueyue, came to symbolize what many Chinese see as a decay in public morals after heady decades of economic growth and rising prosperity.

After toddler is left to die, China disquieted

Gruesome closed-circuit camera video of last Thursday's accident, aired on television and posted on the Internet, showed Yueyue toddling along the hardware market street in the southern city of Foshan. A van strikes her, slows and then resumes driving, rolling its back right wheel over the child. As she lays with blood pooling, 18 people walk or cycle by and another van strikes her before a scrap picker scoops her up.

Yueyue's death touched off another round of hand-wringing about society and personal responsibility. Many comments posted to social media sites said "we are all passers-by."

Li Xiangping, a professor of religion at Huadong University, said on a Twitter-like service that it is too easy to blame others. "What after all prompted such a sad phenomenon? Officials? The rich? Or is it our own cold-heartedness?" Li said on Sina Corp.'s Weibo.

Police have detained the drivers of both vans on suspicion of causing a traffic accident but have not said what formal charges they would face and if manslaughter would be among them now that the girl has died.

The people who could be seen on the video passing by the injured Yueyue have recounted being harassed for ignoring her. The respected Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper quoted a man it identified only as a hardware merchant Mr. Chen as saying that he had been receiving crank calls ever since someone picked him out as the 16th passer-by. He said he hadn't noticed the child.

Some experts said an unwillingness to help others is an outgrowth of urbanization as migrants pour into cities and create neighborhoods of strangers.

"Rapid urbanization not only affects China or Foshan, but anywhere in the world where you have a lot of high-rise buildings, where there is high population density, then the relationship with the neighbors, and with each other is affected," said Yao Yue, a psychologist and director of telephone help-line for distressed people in Beijing.

[lindat]

Horrific, infuriating. My heart has been broken for days, ever since I learned of this disgusting tragedy three days ago. That society needs a good samaritan law in order to change behavior. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/22/china-nation-cold-hearts

[sarajsh]

Now the passersby are saying they didn't see the child. Two, at least, did. A person on a bicycle can be seen deliberately avoiding her, and someone on foot looks over his left shoulder at her and keeps on going, like she was some squirrel roadkill, or something. "Didn't notice her" is ********. We can see them noticing her, AND ignoring her.

[BapPas]

China is a nation that has a long history of not caring! Mao's murder of millions; modern China's murder of millions of unborn children; and don't forget Tibet.

[freemarlie]

I'm sure this never happens in America.


Wait, what's this????

http://www.the-savvy-sista.com/2008/06/78-yr-old-man-hit-by-car-bystanders-do.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/dying-homeless-man-stopped-mugging-sidewalk/story?id=10471047

[ritaprotz]

We all have things that we see that disturb us for years. This video and story is one of those things. We should ALL be disturbed and shocked by it, and if we ever find ourselves in a situation where we can do something to make a difference, then step up and make that difference! All it would have taken was one person to get her out of the street. What is wrong with people?

[Transatlantique]

At least the child won't have to grow up in China amongst all of that defecation on the streets, not to mention that fact that they boil dogs and cats and any animals alive. I hate China, not necessarily all of the people, but just the attitude of the government. I'd hate to be born in an oppressive country, that's why I hate being American. Oppression here has been my experience, and maybe its not like the oppression in some other countries, but when compared to Scandinavia or England, I'd have rather taken either one of those liberated countries. I guess everyone can't have it great. It too bad the mother of the child was errant.

[Samlv]

Meet a few people from China. Then decide.

If you think Americans are arrogant........... whoa.

[gruven13777]

Hey CBS... are you going to air pictures and video of the autopsy?

[brasileira2]

I saw the video, and at first I thought it was some kind of prank. I was absolutely disgusted with the behavior of those Chinese people.
A friend of mine adopted a little girl from China, and she told me that girls are worthless in China. That maybe the reason why they didn't give a F*** about her. I wonder if they would have ignored the baby if the baby was a boy.

[Transatlantique]

I don't think this was a male vs. female issue. It was a toddler, and I don't think that the person who originally hit her knew what he had done until it was too late. The second lorry driver obviously didn't see her either, and I don't think they had time to stop and check the sex of her. This isn't meant to excuse what happened, its just that it really isn't a female victim issue.

[Transatlantique]

Oh, and what about America's treatment of baby boys at birth when their genitals are cut and there are no laws to protect them from the perpetrators? More have died from that than the media will mention. In general, men throughout history have been less valued that women, that is if you are insistent on making this a gender issue.

[diethra]

I am beyond horrified at the callous and outright psychopathic behavior. I cannot what my eyes have seen watching this video, how sympatic and inhuman the behavior of these people. Two cars just drove over her and people just walked along like this was a normal part of there life. It was like watching a zombie movie. Is this what many of our life has come to. To not even blink an eye and watch a two year old die in front of your eyes and continue to walk or drive away with no feeling. This take me into a how new category on many country way of life. I hope they arrested these drivers and those who walk the streets, that didn't give a s--t on the life of a two year baby. She is a human being, created by god. She is an angel, I am just horrify,

[cockroachcrusher]

That first driver should be charged with murder. He saw the child and deliberately ran over her. The second driver should also be tried for murder as he did exactly the same thing. These two sickos should be put away.

[lzdday]

In china it is common for children to wonder off a bit. Parents don't keep such a tight leash because they are usually safe. In China, if someone were to abduct or hurt a child they recieve a bullet to the head shortly after a mock trial. They don't mess around. The van drivers are as good as gone without american long expensive public trials.