Furious China farmer takes brick to smash luxury car of driver who crushed her garlic seedlings, triggers wealth gap debate
- Car crushes crops, unaware driver chased by farmer on electric bike
- Uses brick to smash wing mirror, car door, windows, bonnet
A woman farmer in central China has gone berserk and smashed up a Mercedes-Benz with a brick after its driver ran over her vegetables.
The incident took place on April 5 in Taikang county in Henan province when a man, surnamed Zhang, drove his car along a narrow rural road and inadvertently squashed some garlic seedlings planted at the edge, Henan TV reported.
Zhang said he drove on without stopping because he was not aware that his car had wrecked the crops. The farmer, surnamed Liu, who had planted them, immediately chased after him on an electric bike.
Liu swore at him, broke off a wing mirror and picked up a brick from the ground, which she used to smash the car’s door, windows and bonnet, as viral video clips showed.
“She just smashed our car, without telling us why she was angry with us,” said Zhang’s wife, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
It was not until they all got to the police station that the couple learned the reason for Liu’s outburst.
They returned to the scene of the crime and saw tyre marks that showed the crops had been crushed by other vehicles before theirs.
“She vented all her rage on us,” Zhang’s wife said, adding: “If she had told us we had destroyed her crops, we would have compensated her.
“Now we’ll solve the problem by law. We will compensate for her loss of garlic seedlings and she will compensate us for the damage to our car,” she said.
According to a police statement, Liu and the couple reached a mutual compensation agreement.
The incident triggered internet users to describe the garlic seedlings destroyed by the luxury vehicle as the “most expensive” crop, due to the amount of money Liu was believed to have paid for the car to be repaired.
The exact figures were not released by the police.
The case, which highlighted the wealth disparity on the mainland, sparked a heated discussion on mainland social media.
“A small bunch of garlic seedlings means a lot of money to some people. We can really understand her frustration,” an online observer on Douyin wrote.
“Impulse is the devil. It will cost this farmer auntie much money for her out-of-control action. Hope she will not do that again,” said another.
