Chinese subway passenger arrested after refusing to put handbag through ‘dirty’ scanner
Woman wrestles with police and security guards, and even feigns a blackout rather than comply with routine safety check
A Chinese woman who scuffled with police officers and security guards at a subway station after refusing to put her handbag through a scanner was given five days’ detention, local media reported.
The incident, which was caught on surveillance cameras, happened on February 27 at Sanjiaohu station in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei province, Kankanews.com reported on Monday.
In the footage, the woman, identified only by her surname Wei, can be seen walking up to a checkpoint carrying a bag. The action then cuts to a scene in which she appears to be surrounded by security guards.
The news report said staff at the station told Wei she could not go through the security check without allowing her bag to be scanned. The woman apparently replied by saying that she did not want to put the expensive item on a dirty conveyor belt, and the dispute escalated from there.
The subway workers contacted the police and several officers arrived on the scene.
Wei refused to comply with their requests, however, and the argument descended into pushing and shoving. At one point in the video, Wei can be seen feigning a blackout, as her legs crumple and she slumps to the floor.
When it becomes evident the woman is not going to give in, police officers drag her away from the scene. In a final act of defiance, Wei vainly attempts to demolish a stainless steel information board before throwing herself to the floor and lying rigid beside the scanner.
The disgruntled passenger is not the first Chinese commuter to have got into a fix over a handbag, however.
In early February, a woman travelling home for the Lunar New Year holiday became an internet sensation after a video and X-ray images of her crawling through a security scanner at Dongguan railway station in southern China’s Guangdong province went viral.
She said later that the bag contained a lot of money and she did not want to let it out of her sight.
