Alleged land dispute driver admits unlicensed operation

ZHENGZHOU, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The shovel truck driver who allegedly fatally ran over a farmer after a land dispute has said the incident was accidental as he reversed the vehicle, and that he was not licensed to drive it.

Song Heyi, a farmer in Xichungang Village, Yaojia Township in Zhongmou County of central China's Henan Province, was crushed to death by a shovel truck on Wednesday afternoon.

The 27-year-old driver, surnamed Wang, told a Xinhua reporter after his detention by police on Friday that he had no license in shovel truck operation, and that he did not deliberately crush Song, with the collision coming as the result of a blind spot when reversing the vehicle.

Wang Shicheng, manager of Henan Hongyi Agricultural Technology Company, likewise claimed the killing was an accident during construction work, and that his firm had never forcibly occupied farmers' land.

Further investigations are under way, according to local police.

The victim's brother-in-law said he was deliberately killed as he was not satisfied with the land release package offered by the company.

"The company tried to rent the 10-mu (0.67 hectare) farmland for 800 yuan (127 U.S. dollars) per mu," he said, without revealing his name.

Song did not agree with the deal, which led to his death, he said.

Details of the case went viral online after a gruesome tweet featuring a picture of a bloodied body under a shovel truck was uploaded on Thursday.

With a registered capital of 150 million yuan and engaged in agricultural tourism, the Henan Hongyi Agricultural Technology Company was founded in 2011.