Handcuffs photo: VCG

 

A man in Northeast China's Liaoning Province has been ordered to pay 60,000 yuan ($9,200) in damages for causing his neighbor to die from joking around with him.

The decision was made public by the Liaoning Provincial Court on Friday. In the case, a man, surnamed Zhou, from Zunyi, Liaoning met his neighbor, surnamed Gou, downstairs one morning in February 2020. The two began joking around with each other and soon after Gou suddenly collapsed to the ground. 

Zhou did not realize that Gou was unwell and told him to stop pretending. However, a while later Zhou found Gou's face had turned purple and he was having trouble breathing.

Zhou did not call for help in time, but fled home instead. When Gou's family arrived, it was too late to save him. Knowing that Zhou had been joking with Gou, his family reported him to the police.

It later emerged that Gou had a chronic heart condition and died of a heart attack when joking around with Zhou.

Eventually, the prosecutor decided that Zhou's behavior was not enough to constitute a crime, but that he had to pay civil compensation of 60,000 yuan over the incident.

Global Times