China boy tramples on Lamborghini causing US$25,000 damage says he is too young to pay for crime, enraging social media
- Teenager stands on bonnet of luxury Italian sports car for online video prank with friends in story viewed by 8 million people
- 15-year-old then taunts car owner and claims he does not need to pay compensation because ‘he is a minor’
A teenager in China who trampled on the bonnet of a Lamborghini has refused to apologise or pay compensation to the owner of the vehicle by using the excuse that he is “a minor”.
The case has turned the spotlight on the legal responsibilities of underage offenders under mainland law.
The owner of the luxury Italian sports car, surnamed Wang, had left his Lamborghini in the underground car park of a five-star hotel in eastern China’s Shandong province after checking in on September 21.
Three days later, a friend told him his car was being used as a prop in online videos showing a young man stepping on its bonnet to show off in front of his friends’ cameras, Wang told the Chinese media outlet Qilu Evening News.
Wang checked surveillance video footage from the hotel and discovered a group of teenagers around his car. The person who stood on the vehicle also spat on it before he left the scene.
He said in one of his posts on Douyin, the mainland’s version of TikTok, that staff at a Lamborghini dealership told him the bonnet was damaged and it would cost more than 180,000 yuan (US$25,000) to fix.