Hit-and-run driver in E China discovers victim was his own father

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A family in east China's Shandong Province is facing the most tragic Father's Day with the father dead and the son facing a lengthy prison sentence for killing him in a hit-and-run accident.

According to local police, a man surnamed Yang was speeding on his way home in Heze city on the evening of June 9 when he hit an electric tricycle with his SUV, throwing the trike's driver into a ditch. Yang immediately fled the scene, police say, and only found out the next day that the dead victim was his father.

Local newspaper the Mudang Evening Post reported that Yang senior was badly injured in the crash but was only confirmed dead later. If the SUV driver had stopped to check his condition, he may have survived.

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The police found a wrecked tricycle and SUV at the crash site. After investigation including checking surveillance camera footage, they identified the suspect.

The fugitive Yang junior was found by his family the next day and was informed that victim was his dad.

A police officer told local TV station Shandong Television that a member of the Yang family told them the SUV driver was the victim’s son but asked the police to drop the investigation.

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After being brought to the police station, Yang junior reportedly confessed everything. “I couldn’t see clearly as the car lights were so bright. After seeing a person had been hit, I was scared to death,” he said, according to Shandong Television.

Local police officials said the son had legal liability for the crash, despite his family's wishes for the case to be dropped. Under China’s Criminal Law, hit-and-run drivers causing death face a minimum prison sentence of seven years.

An investigation into the case continues.

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Chinese netizens on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, have condemned the son. “If the driver had not fled the scene, his father may have survived,” @piaomixuan said.

“The son drove an SUV while his father used a tricycle. After his father gave him all the best things in life, this is how the son pays him back?" @L_B_ asked.