Good samaritan law expected to play bigger role

A new debate is underway in China about the creation of a nation-wide Good Samaritan law to protect people who want to help others.

It comes after an incident involving a young student and an elderly man this past month in Sichuan.

Yang Chunyu says he can still remember exactly what happened.

"I saw the old man sitting on the ground with his bike laying on the ground, with all his belongings scattered around him. He covered his face with his hands, and appeared to be in pain. So.. I though I should help him."

However, people who saw the incident soon saw a different scenario.

"The old man refused to let the boy go, alleging the boy had crashed into him."

"I saw the boy wiping away his tears, while the elder held the boy's bike and accused the boy of knocking him down."

The old man had been demanding compensation from Yang Chunyu.

Authorities later figured out the old man was trying to run a scam after reviewing video surveillance.

This incident has sparked a new debate about morality here in China about protecting people who only want to try to help.

A few years back, a person in Nanjing was ordered to pay 45-thousand yuan for an old woman who claimed he hurt her, even though he claims he was just trying to help her.

The courts ruled against him.

Lawyer Zheng Xueqian says the creation of a Good Samaritan law should help.

"When a code of conduct appears not enough to prevent unethical behaviors from happening once and again, it's time for the law to stand out."

It's being suggested a Good Samaritan law will offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are injured, ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated.

Zheng Xueqian says its creation would also stop people from trying to run scams.

"In Singapore, injured people who try to extort money from those who try to help them will face fines of 3-times the expenses of their injuries. They may even face lawsuits in some cases."

So far, the city of Shenzhen is the only city in China with a Good Samaritan law.

Under that legislation, anyone who wants to claim compensation needs to collect evidence first.

Similar laws are being drafted in Beijing and the province of Henan.