Ms. Yao kept the puppy's body in the fridge.
■ Report by journalist Tao Bin and intern Huang Shaohong, photos by Zhang Shu
According to reports, after a puppy she bought for 13,000 yuan was run over by a taxi right in front of her eyes, the offending vehicle left the scene. In the five days since the incident, Ms. Yao from Changchun has sought answers from many departments, but all she got was that no one was responsible for this matter. Outraged, Ms. Yao placed the puppy's body into the refrigerator while she and her husband drove around every day searching for the taxi that ran over their puppy.
The Dog Was Run Over, The Car Flew Away
On the afternoon of June 4, at a residential building located at the intersection of Wuma Road and Dama Road in Changchun, I met Ms. Yao. She said that this puppy cost her 13,000 yuan. It was a white purebred Chihuahua female dog that she had raised for more than a year.
At 8:40 PM on May 31, Ms. Yao and her husband were walking their little Chihuahua on the roadside when suddenly a red taxi came speeding by and ran over the puppy. "That car was very fast, the driver might have been eager to overtake another vehicle, and it instantly ran over my puppy which was just standing by the side of the road," Ms. Yao said. Seeing this, she quickly shouted, and the car stopped for a moment.
"After the puppy was run over, it let out a cry. I wanted to run to the side of the car to check on it, but unexpectedly, the car sped away. There were passengers inside, and one of them even turned back to look once," Ms. Yao said. In fact, when the taxi initially stopped, the puppy only had its head hit by the car and wasn't dead yet. But when the car accelerated and left, the tire rolled over the puppy's lower back.
Searching Everywhere for the Offending Vehicle
Ms. Yao immediately called the 110 emergency number. "110 told me to call 122 because this was a traffic accident. I called 122, and they said to contact 110 again. Later, I also called the taxi management office, but they also said it wasn't under their jurisdiction." Initially, Ms. Yao thought that since she had noted down the license plate number of the offending vehicle, it would be easy to find the driver, but these responses made her heart sink. "No matter what, it was still a life. I'm not looking for how much compensation the offending driver should give me; at least he should say sorry," Ms. Yao said, placing the puppy's body into the fridge for preservation.
"These past few nights, my husband and I have been driving around everywhere looking for that offending vehicle. We've also been asking around, requesting other taxi drivers to inform us if they see that car," Ms. Yao said.
During the interview, we learned that Ms. Yao's dog did not have a dog license, but residents near the site of the accident could vouch for her.
The Collision Incident Encounters a Void
Yesterday, I consulted with the Changchun Taxi Management Office. Staff members indicated that they couldn't handle the case of the puppy being run over by a taxi because the taxi management office is only responsible for handling complaints that occur inside taxis. This matter should be handled by the traffic police department.
I then called the 122 accident reporting hotline. A staff member from the Nanguan Traffic Police Brigade stated that the traffic police department couldn't handle this issue, and advised calling the 110 emergency line or directly contacting the local police station. I also called the Xiwuma Road Police Station of the Nanguan Public Security Bureau, where staff members indicated that this matter should be handled by the traffic police department or by directly calling 122.
Lawyer Wang Shu from Jilin Zhongji Law Firm believes that in the absence of a responsible department, Ms. Yao can directly file a lawsuit against the owner of the taxi in court.