Suspicion surrounds man’s death in police custody

A man died after being arrested in a prostitution sting in Changping district, Beijing, sparking an outcry over possible police malpractice. 

In a statement posted on its official weibo account, the local police said they “sent a task force to raid a pedicure salon after receiving reports of its involvement in the sex trade” and arrested six alleged sex workers and customers. 

The statement continued by saying “a man surnamed Lei resisted law enforcement and intended to run away, the police took mandatory constraint measures on him. The man became ill on the way to the police station; he was rushed to the hospital but died after invalid rescue efforts.”

The police said Changping People’s Procuratorate has intervened in the investigation into the circumstances leading up to Lei’s death.

Lei Yang’s family, however, questioned the police’s version of the story.

His wife said the man left home around 21:00 to pick up a visiting relative at the airport and lost contact with them since then. The anxious family was not informed of his death until early morning the next day. Lei was already confirmed dead hours ago upon arrival at the hospital at 22:09, according to hospital records. 

Lei’s family also refuted the police’s claim that he died of a heart attack, saying he was in perfect health and there is no history of heart disease in his family.

When the family questioned why several markings appeared in Lei’s arms and head, the police explained it was because Lei fell on his head when jumping out of the police car, an answer disbelieved by the family, who saw no other visible bruises. They were forbidden to photograph the corpse as evidence.

To add to their suspicions, the family found part of his phone logs, Wechat messages as well as the GPA records had been removed.

29-year-old Lei Yang is a father of a newly-born baby girl and has a postgraduate degree of environmental studies in Renmin University, a prestigious university in Beijing. 

He died on his wedding anniversary, the wife said. She told a Beijing News reporter they had hired a lawyer for the case, and hoped to get a fair answer.