Chinese court’s dismissal of compensation claim highlights traffic accident scams

A Zhejiang court has cleared a driver of hitting and paralysing an elderly pedestrian after it ruled that the accident was a scam to win financial compensation that went badly wrong.

The elderly man’s family demanded that the driver pay 1.2 million yuan (HK$1.51 million) in compensation after he was knocked over last October, resulting in him suffering full-body paralysis, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

The local court ruled that the elderly man staged the accident after reviewing footage of the incident captured on a video camera installed in the vehicle. The court said that the man was clearly anticipating the impact and adopted protective gestures before he was hit by the car.

The video clip shows the elderly man walking across a busy road before running in front of the upcoming vehicle as it drew close, knocking him to the ground.

The court did not hold the elderly man accountable for the scam despite its denial of compensation.

The ruling has won overwhelming support online in China, with most posters agreeing that the driver was exempt from blame, highlighting public resentment over the scam more commonly known as peng cier in China.

Watch: China's car accident scams caught on camera