March 10, 2013Jing Gao9 Commentscar crashes, fu er dai, rich second-generation, second generation, xu yichun, xu zhaohong

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Source: Seattle Times, Sing Tao Daily

A 19-year-old Chinese community college student is facing homicide charge after killing a 25-year-old woman in a fatal car crash in November. His mother flew to the U.S. from China and paid two million dollars in bail last week. Chinese social media are now abuzz with condemnation of such “despicable behavior of fu er dai“, or the rich second generation, and with gossips about who on earth his father is, since almost every detail of the news story has raised a red flag on the minds of Chinese netizens, who have a deep-ingrained aversion to the rich and powerful.

Xu is charged with vehicular homicide among other five counts, to which he pleaded not guilty. His bail was set at $2 million. On March 1, his mother presented a cashier’s check to pay the full amount to release him from the King County Jail, which really surprised Ian Goodhew, King County prosecutor’s chief of staff.

“Rarely is a bail of that amount posted,” said Goodhew, “We asked for $2 million because…we are very much concerned he won’t show up.” There is no extradition treaty between the United States and China, so Xu is considered a flight risk.

Xu Yichun, 19, was a student atSouth Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Wash.

It is revealed by Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, that Xu Zhaohong, the father of Xu Yichun, is the chief executive of a prominent mainland tax and accounting firm, taxchina.com, which has 33 branch offices in China. Furthermore, an online educational program operated by Taxchina is even the only training institution for certified tax agents recognized by China Certified Tax Agents Association.

Xu Zhaohong told Sing Tao Daily that he “is already back in Beijing… Everything is alright with my son. Thanks for your attention.” A court clerk told the newspaper that Xu shoved him away and caused all papers to scatter on the floor during his visit to the King County Jail for his sonwhen he was trying to give him court documents.

The accident took place at around 3 p.m. on November 10 when Xu Yichun, on his way back from an afternoon party with four other teenage girls, was driving a 2008 Mercedez-Benz he just bought four days ago with 31,000 in cash at 70 mph in a residential area in Des Moines, Wash. He ran a stop sign and crashed into a BMW driven by a woman taking her four family members to a birthday party.

Xu reportedly told the police that he was driving “slightly faster,” and that he made a sudden U-turn only because his GPS told him to. Although Xu had a driver’s license in China, he did not have an international license, nor had he ever driven in the United States.

Brenda Gomez, the BMW driver, sustained fatal injuries and died days later at a local hospital. Her four young siblings in the same car were all injured to varying degrees, including a 14-year-old brother suffering a traumatic brain injury. Two 18-year-olds in Xu’s car were also injured, but one of them refused to receive any medical treatment. Two 17-year-olds were not hurt.

On the Internet, convinced that the 2 million dollars are ill-gotten gains, Chinese net users shared the news and the screen grabs of U.S. media reports with anger and utter disgust while highlighting Xu’s father’s influence.

A screen grab of a U.S. news report on Xu’s Case is now circulating on Chinese media