Justice better served late than never

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. ~MLK Jr.

Injustice is something that keeps me up at night. Injustice is something that is infuriating in every instance. There is no such thing as light injustice or injustice of the 2nd degree.

And this is what injustice on a motorcycle looks like. A few days ago, I and one of the Chicago Coffee staff were on our scooters riding in the complex where my home and coffee shop are. Mr. Chen was riding the opposite direction on his motorcycle on the wrong side of the road forcing me off the road and running straight into my staff and her bike. He paused for 5 seconds until we told him that her bike had been damaged and that something needed to be done about it. Thats when he bolted. No concern for her property or even to check if she was injured. No concern for owning up to his mistake. He lives in a world of one and there is no respect for anyone outside of his world.

Well I have reached a point now where I am not going to allow injustice to happen without standing up. I have reached a point now where I am not going to take this kind of disregard for human life. So I chased him.

I am a self-acclaimed scooter driving expert. (It seems like nothing but living in Asia driving with anything less than perfection can mean an accident and/or bodily harm. I would love to see the list of people that have used a scooter every day for 5 years in cities like Shanghai and Kunming without a single accident, brush-up, or fender-bender.) You can add "chased down a gas motorcycle" to my resume even though I still not sure how it was possible.

Head starts are never good for someone with the slower mode of transportation. Of course, not knowing you are going to be chased down by a crazy foreigner is never good for those who hit-and-run. A few blocks away I caught up with him and told him to pull over.

He kept going.

So I swerved in front of him forcing him off the road. I explained that he was going to wait because I was calling the police and he wasn't going anywhere until they arrived.

He went to restart his engine to back up and drive off.

So I did what anyone bordering insanity would do. I went for his keys. He took a swipe at me but not before I ripped his keychain from his bike. Lets just say he didn't appreciate that very much.

The police finally arrived and tried to get everyone's take on the situation. Here's a few highlights for time sake.

Mr Chen claimed we had in fact hit him on his side of the road. Airtight case if only he had not fled the scene and other witnesses didn't recall the opposite happening.

Note to criminals: If you want to appear innocent do not flee the scene. If you do end up fleeing, do not get caught because your are going to look guilty as hell.

Mr Chen claimed that the dirt on his pant's leg was proof that we hit him and now 1 hour after the fact he was worried he might of some broken bones in his ankle.

We didn't have to convince the police of too much since Mr Chen was doing a dandy fine job of establishing his guiltiness.

When Mr Chen began realizing that it was looking worse and worse for him, he switched to trying to use his "关系 guanxi" (relationships) to free him of this mess. He began dropping hints to the police of who his friends were and also inquired what department they were in and if they knew this guy or that guy. Thankfully it didn't work otherwise we would be talking a lot more about how corruption is still plays a large role in everyday life. Its sickening but at least in one instance justice prevailed.

After 3 hours of this nonsense, the police finally forced Mr Chen to pay for the repairs to the scooter. It wasn't much but in cosmic terms it was huge. Thank goodness for some justice that day. At least one person has learned a lesson regardless of how long it will last.