Man Attempts to Extort Bus Driver for Injuries: Video

A bus driving in China. Isaac Lawrence/AFP/Getty Images

A shirtless man was seen throwing himself into the front of a parked bus repeatedly to attempt to extort the driver out of money, in what would be a falsified instance of being hit by the bus, according to Chinese online news outlet Feng Video.

A witness caught the man on camera at an unspecified location in China, before police ushered him away from the scene. The video was uploaded on social media. The Aug. 22 report did not include when the incident happened.

The man’s behavior is known as “breaking porcelain” in China. It is a form people use to extort drivers out of money by falsifying traffic accidents.

Bus Hits Man or Man Hits Bus

The video shows the shirtless man laying on the ground in front of the bus with his things, including a shoulder bag and a water bottle on the asphalt next to him. He bumps his head and shoulders into the front of the bus, while flailing his legs. He may have been attempting to cause bruising to himself to argue his case, but it is unclear exactly what his intentions are.

He then lays on the ground in a fetal position while women are heard in the background, reacting at his behavior. Soon after, he gets up again and redoubles his efforts.

The man even goes so far as to get up and throw his body into the bus. He finally lays still after his last attempt, and two police officers approach him. He picks up his things as the officers make him leave the scene. The officers kick his things to the side before he walks away.

The report did not mention if the man was detained.

‘Breaking Porcelain’

The term breaking porcelain came from the Qing Dynasty. People would take cheap porcelain vessels, and smash them against someone’s cart, claiming that the driver broke their expensive heirloom. They would demand compensation.

In recent times, reports of this behavior of feigning injury started in 2004. Gangs have established themselves to exploit certain legal loopholes, with a huge number of exploitation cases being overlooked by the Chinese regime.

Many people in China opt to not get involved if they see injured people, as there is always an additional risk that those who assist also get blamed.

Many instances of exploitation have come about from people feigning injury.

To protect themselves, a lot of Chinese drivers have installed dash cameras in their cars to catch such falsified incidents.

In the above video, people are seen hurling themselves onto cars that are already stopped. Some even crawl under a stopped vehicle and act as if they’ve been run over.

A man is also seen sitting in the middle of the road with his clothing strewn about. Similar to a toll station, he approaches vehicles to place his foot under the car. He then won’t move unless the driver pays.