In the early morning of April 7, 2023, a fire broke out in a small area in Fengtai District, Beijing, resulting in two deaths and one injury.
According to Beijing Daily, the reporter learned from the China Judgment Document Network on April 22, 2024 that the case was sentenced to four years and six months in prison after the first and second trials.
Bring the battery home to charge it and explode and catch fire
2 dead and 1 wounded
The outdoor charging carport is only 10 meters away
According to the judgment documents, the Fengtai District People's Court found the following facts: at about 22 o'clock on April 6, 2023, the defendant Zhou was at home in Fengtai District, charging the lithium battery used by his Green Energy brand electric bicycle on the north bedroom table, and at about 4 o'clock on April 7, the charging battery suddenly exploded and caused a fire, and the fire produced a large amount of smoke.
According to the reporter's understanding, the defendant Zhou lived on the first floor of a six-story residential building, and there was an outdoor charging carport only 10 meters away from his home. Guo X is a relative of defendant Zhou, and Huang X and Chen X are a husband and wife living on the sixth floor, and when the fire broke out, the two went downstairs to try to escape.
Guo and Huang died on the same day after rescue efforts failed, and Chen was diagnosed with inhalation injury (severe), multiple burns all over the body, carbon monoxide poisoning, metabolic acidosis combined with respiratory acidosis, etc.
Defendant Zhou X constituted the crime of arson
He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison
According to the fire accident of the Fengtai District Fire and Rescue Detachment, the fire in this accident was caused by thermal runaway ignition of surrounding combustibles during the charging process of electric bicycle batteries.
Defendant Zhou took the initiative to ask others to report the fire after the incident, and was summoned to the case by the police of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Fengtai District Public Security Bureau at the scene, and truthfully confessed the above facts after arriving at the case.
The Fengtai District People's Court held that the defendant Zhou had a weak sense of law and fire safety, and that his negligence caused the fire that killed two people and injured one person, and that his actions constituted the crime of fire and should be punished in accordance with law. In view of the fact that the defendant Zhou X voluntarily surrendered, voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, and obtained the forgiveness of the victim Guo's legal representative, and gave him a lighter punishment, it is therefore decided that the defendant Zhou X committed the crime of arson and was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment.
After the first-instance verdict was announced, Zhou appealed on the grounds that the sentence was too heavy. The Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court held that the judgment rendered by the court of first instance on the basis of the facts, nature, and circumstances of Zhou's crime was correctly applied, the sentence was appropriate, and the trial procedures were lawful, and should be upheld.
In the end, the court made a final ruling, rejecting the appellant Zhou's appeal and upholding the original judgment.
Recently
Electric bicycle fire accidents occur from time to time
In the event of an accident
The responsibility of the owner's personal owner, community property, and electric vehicle manufacturer
Who is responsible?
Relevant laws and regulations
Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 115 Whoever causes serious injury or death to a person or causes major damage to public or private property by arson or other dangerous means shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death;
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 1165:Where the perpetrator infringes upon the civil rights and interests of others due to fault and causes harm, they shall bear tort liability.
Article 1172:Where two or more persons separately commit tortious acts causing the same harm, and the extent of responsibility can be determined, each of them bears corresponding responsibility;
Article 1202: If a defective product causes damage to others, the manufacturer shall bear tort liability.
Article 1203: Where a defective product causes damage to others, the infringed party may request compensation from the manufacturer of the product or from the seller of the product. If the product defect is caused by the producer, the seller has the right to recover from the producer after compensation. If the product is defective due to the fault of the seller, the producer has the right to recover from the seller after compensation.
Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 64 Whoever commits any of the following acts in violation of the provisions of this Law, which does not constitute a crime, shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days, and may be concurrently fined not more than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are more minor, he shall be given a warning or a fine of not more than 500 yuan; he instructs or forces others to violate fire safety regulations and work at risk; he causes a fire by negligence; he obstructs the alarm after a fire breaks out, or the personnel responsible for reporting fail to report to the police in a timely manner; he disrupts the order of the fire scene, or refuses to carry out the command of the commander at the fire scene, affecting the fire fighting and rescue; he intentionally destroys or falsifies the fire scene; he unpacks or uses a place that has been sealed by the fire and rescue organization without authorization, partial.
Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 41 If the defective product causes damage to persons or property other than the defective product, the producer shall be liable for compensation. The producer shall not be liable for compensation if it can prove that it has any of the following circumstances: the product has not been put into circulation, the defect causing the damage did not exist when the product was put into circulation, and the existence of the defect could not have been discovered at the level of science and technology at the time the product was put into circulation.
Article 42 If the product is defective due to the fault of the seller, causing damage to the person or property of others, the seller shall be liable for compensation. If the seller cannot identify the manufacturer of the defective product or the supplier of the defective product, the seller shall be liable for compensation.
Article 49 Anyone who produces or sells a product that does not conform to the national or industry standards for safeguarding human health and the safety of persons and property shall be ordered to stop production or sale, confiscate the illegally produced or sold product, and impose a fine of not less than three times the equivalent value of the illegally produced or sold product (including sold and unsold products, the same below);
Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-rise Civil Buildings
Article 37: It is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles in public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings.
Encourage the establishment of centralized storage and charging places for electric bicycles in high-rise residential areas. The storage and charging places for electric bicycles shall be set up independently and at a safe distance from high-rise civil buildings;
The storage and charging places for electric bicycles shall be equipped with necessary fire-fighting equipment, and the charging facilities shall be equipped with automatic power-off functions.
Article 47 In violation of these provisions, any of the following acts shall be ordered by the fire and rescue agency to make corrections, and a fine of not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed on business units and individuals, and a fine of not less than 500 yuan but not more than 1,000 yuan shall be imposed on non-business units and individuals: (7) parking electric bicycles or charging electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings, and refusing to make corrections.
Charging electric bicycles frequently causes fire accidents
How to do it safely?
What risky behaviors can't be done?
This guide to the safe use of e-bikes
Please check
↓↓↓
Chengdu emergency reminds you:
Learn safety knowledge and master emergency skills
Strengthen security awareness and build a strong line of defense
Source: Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China, Chengdu Municipal Emergency Management Bureau