An auxiliary police officer who claimed he was knocked down by a car was suspended in Hunan province in China last Friday after video of the incident was made public.
At about 11am on June 13, a man in a white car was stopped by an auxiliary policeman surnamed Chang in Hengyang. After they had a quarrel and the man tried to drive away, Chang suddenly fell to the ground.
Chang’s fall was captured by a dashboard camera in a vehicle in the following car. The video showed the car did not touch Chang before he fell down. In the afternoon on the same day, the video went viral on the internet. People online joked that Chang was a “law enforcement scammer.”
On June 14, local police said they would investigate the case.
The case then took a weird turn when the media discovered the car’s driver was a retired policeman. In an attempt to protect the reputation of the police force, the driver told the media his car had knocked down the auxiliary police officer and the man should not be called a “law enforcement scammer.”
On June 15, Hengyang police announced that Chang and his team supervisor had been suspended due to faking the incident.
In China, it is not uncommon for scammers to try to blackmail drivers by pretending to be hit by vehicles. However, it is rare when a police officer tries to do it.
Many people online praised the second driver for uploading the video, which led to an official investigation.
