Alumni of Beijing’s Renmin University are demanding a complete investigation into the case involving a former student who mysteriously died while in police custody on Saturday. Lei Yang, 29, was detained by plain-clothes police officers last weekend for allegedly soliciting a prostitute. After trying to escape during his arrest, Lei reportedly became sick en route to the police station. He was then taken to the hospital, where he died while receiving treatment, the South China Morning Post reports.
Because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident, the story has received a wave of media attention this week. Many are enraged and concerned about the discrepancies between police officers’ stories and the lack of a solid explanation of how Lei died. Authorities are claiming that he died after attempting to escape from the police officers. However, many are skeptical.
Alumni of Renmin University have now launched an online petition requesting an investigation into Lei’s death. Lei, who was married (his wife is pictured above) and the father of a newborn baby, graduated from the university with a master’s degree in environmental science in 2009.
“It is hard to believe that Yang, as a father of a newborn, would solicit prostitution while heading to the airport [to fetch a relative],” the petition said. “And the handling of prostitution cases should be done by uniformed officers who bear a proper police badge...but the police in Changping district did not do that. It’s shocking.”
According to a statement released by the Changping district public security bureau in Beijing, Lei was spotted leaving a foot massage parlor at 9.14pm on Saturday. Police arrested him for soliciting a prostitute. According to them, Lei resisted arrest, bit an officer and destroyed a hand-held camera. Lei then reportedly escaped from the police car but was caught by officers at 9.45pm. He was then taken to the hospital at 10.05pm, where he died at 10.55pm.
After viewing the body, his family claims that they saw multiple bruises and injuries, but they were not allowed to take photos.
To add to the suspicious circumstances, many media outlets claim that Lei’s phone was tampered with and its location records had been deleted.
University alumni and Lei's family are hoping that the petition will shed some light onto what really happened.
[Image via CCTV]
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