Xiao Lu, 20, a student at Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), was involved in a serious accident with two friends on a highway in Qinghai province on 6/7/2024.
Xiao Tian, one of the friends, died at the scene, while the other, Xiao Jing, passed away after unsuccessful resuscitation efforts. Xiao Lu survived, undergoing more than 40 days of treatment in intensive care units across three different hospitals.
On 6/9/2024, Xiao Lu was released on bail pending trial for causing a traffic accident. On 12/5/2025, she was indicted, facing charges of "unsafe driving, causing the vehicle to veer off the road and overturn". This accident resulted in the deaths of two passengers, her own injuries, and vehicle damage. The prosecutor recommended a sentence of 4 to 5 years in prison.
The first instance trials took place on 5/8/2025 and 12/1/2026. Xiao Lu and her defense lawyer pleaded not guilty, asserting that Xiao Tian, not Xiao Lu, was driving at the time of the accident.
Who was the driver?
Ma Qiang, a truck driver who was the first to arrive and assist at the scene, testified in court that he unbuckled the driver's seatbelt and pulled Xiao Tian from the vehicle, but Xiao Tian was already deceased.
On 13/1/2026, one day after the second hearing, Xiao Lu was arrested. Two days later, on 15/1, the court issued its first instance verdict, declaring Xiao Lu the driver, finding her guilty of causing a traffic accident, and sentencing her to 4 years in prison.
Xiao Lu has appealed the decision, and the appellate trial has not yet begun.
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_Surveillance camera on the road captured the Volkswagen carrying the three girls at approximately 19h on 6/7/2024. Photo: ifeng_
In early July 2024, after completing their first year of university, the three friends decided to embark on a road trip through Qinghai and Gansu provinces in a white Volkswagen SUV with license plate A38C7N. The journey began at 10h on 5/7/2024 in Lanzhou, heading west towards Qinghai. Xiao Lu stated that the three friends took turns driving.
Police data, including driving routes and surveillance footage along the way, showed that at approximately 12h21 on 6/7/2024, the three arrived at Qinghai Lake in Qinghai province. At about 14h54 that afternoon, they reached Chaka Salt Lake in Haixi prefecture, Qinghai. Around 18h40, they stopped at a gas station in Wulan, Haixi prefecture, to refuel and buy coffee.
Xiao Lu mentioned they initially planned to drive to Dunhuang that night. The distance from Wulan to Dunhuang, Gansu province, is over 600 km, which would typically take more than 8 hours of driving. This meant that even if everything went smoothly, they would not reach Dunhuang before 3 or 4 in the morning, or possibly even later.
About half an hour after refueling, at approximately 19h10 on 6/7/2024, the white SUV carrying the three girls veered off the road and overturned without colliding with any other vehicles or pedestrians.
Ma Qiang and Ma Lizhong, both from Linxia, Gansu, were the first to arrive at the accident scene. They were driving a large truck transporting liquefied natural gas.
In August 2025, Ma Qiang recounted that Ma Lizhong was driving when he spotted an overturned vehicle with its taillights still on. The two men stopped.
"At first, we saw a woman sitting on the ground outside the car. We asked if she was okay, and she said, 'Please help them, there are still people in the car'," Ma Qiang recalled. The woman sitting on the ground was Xiao Lu.
Ma Qiang remembered that the girl on the ground was speaking incoherently and seemed disoriented. When asked how many people were in the car, she said 4. However, upon looking inside, he only saw two people, one in the front and one in the back. Thinking someone else might have been thrown out, he searched but only found a box.
With the car overturned, Ma Qiang and Ma Lizhong attempted to flip it back but were unable to. Ma Qiang ran to the road, waving for other vehicles and seeking help. Gradually, more passing cars stopped.
Ma Qiang stated that people first rescued the person in the back seat, who was Xiao Jing. She had arm and leg injuries, was quite conscious at the time, and repeatedly cried out in pain.
After people lifted and righted the car, Ma Qiang leaned into the vehicle from the passenger side. "The girl in the front, in the driver's seat, was buckled in but her breathing was very weak, and she couldn't communicate. I went in from the passenger side, unbuckled her seatbelt, and then got out of the car. At that point, the girl slid from the driver's seat to the passenger seat," Ma Qiang recounted. That was Xiao Tian.
During the subsequent investigation, Ma Lizhong testified that the person in the front seat was still breathing when rescued but stopped breathing about one minute later. However, he did not recall if the person in the front seat was initially in the driver's or passenger seat.
Nevertheless, both Ma Lizhong and another rescuer at the scene, Mr. Ye, stated they heard Ma Qiang say the girl in the front seat was in the driver's seat and had slid from the driver's seat to the passenger seat after Ma Qiang unbuckled her.
Wang Tao, who arrived at the scene around 21h30 to assist with the rescue, later provided testimony. "The woman was in the driver's seat, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt. She was buckled in and held tight, almost suspended in mid-air. Later, people came to help. I saw someone move the woman from the driver's seat to the passenger seat, and finally, they took her out from the passenger side."
Wang Tao said he did not know if the girl rescued from the front seat was the driver, stating there was no evidence to prove she was the driver because he "only saw her in the driver's seat."
Upon arrival, doctors found Xiao Tian showed no signs of life and pronounced her dead at the scene.
According to hospital records, Xiao Lu was conscious but mentally weak, appearing to be in pain, and unable to eat or drink. Her medical report indicated multiple fractured ribs on her left side with pneumothorax, along with other injuries.
Why did the police believe Xiao Lu was the driver at the time of the accident?
Video from a police officer's body camera while handling the accident on 6/7/2024 showed that at the scene, a traffic police officer asked Xiao Lu: "Who was the driver?", to which Xiao Lu replied: "I was driving." The officer then asked: "What is your name?", and Xiao Lu correctly stated her name. The officer continued: "Were there only three of you? What is your relationship?", Xiao Lu answered: "Friends." The officer further inquired: "How many people were in your car in total? Were there three?", Xiao Lu replied: "Three people."
After Xiao Lu was taken to the hospital, at approximately 21h12 on the same day, the traffic police officer again asked her: "Where were you sitting in the car? Passenger seat or back seat?", Xiao Lu replied: "I guess the passenger seat..."
Police: "What is the driver's name?". Xiao Lu: "I, I guess so."
Police: "You were the driver, right?". Xiao Lu: "Yes."
Police: "Were you the driver or the passenger?", Xiao Lu responded: "Driver."
Police: "Who was in the passenger seat?", Xiao Lu replied: "She was." The police asked: "Do you two know each other?", Xiao Lu responded: "Yes."
Later, during a breathalyzer test for Xiao Lu, the police asked again: "Were you the driver?", Xiao Lu replied: "Yes."
In August 2025 and January 2026, Xiao Lu gave two live interviews to Economic Observer reporters, explaining that she was "dazed" after the accident, with vague and confused memories, which accounted for her initial responses. As her treatment progressed, her memory gradually returned, and she recalled that Xiao Tian was driving and she was in the passenger seat at the time of the accident.
"Because we were on our way to Gansu that day, we had to drive a long distance at night, and among the three of us, Xiao Tian was the least skilled driver, so we let her drive a bit more while it was still daylight," Xiao Lu said.
According to ifeng, Xiao Lu, born in 2005, obtained her C2 driver's license (automatic transmission) on 1/3/2024, just 4 months before the accident.
Xiao Jing, Xiao Lu's classmate, obtained her C1 driver's license (manual transmission) on 15/2/2023. Xiao Tian, Xiao Jing's friend, received her C2 driver's license on 12/3/2024.
Ma Qiang, the first person at the scene, also stated that Xiao Lu, who was sitting on the ground, "spoke incoherently and seemed very disoriented. When asked how many people were in the car, she said there were 4 people."
Other evidence later provided by police and prosecutors included two separate "driver-passenger relationship assessments."
One assessment, "based on the accident circumstances, on-scene rescue efforts, DNA data, blood stain distribution, passenger characteristics, and injuries," identified Xiao Lu as the driver at the time of the accident. The other report, through "analysis of vehicle accident traces, the accident scene, DNA identification, and injuries of the involved parties," also concluded that Xiao Lu was the driver when the accident occurred.
Furthermore, at 19h07 on 6/7/2024, the Volkswagen with license plate A38C7N, carrying Xiao Lu and two others, was captured by a control camera on the highway. In the image, the driver's face is blurred, but their clothing is light and white. Police believe this person was Xiao Lu.
Meanwhile, data on the vehicle's trajectory showed that from 19h07 to 19h11, when the accident occurred, the car maintained a speed of over 120 km/h and showed no signs of stopping.
Police determined that Xiao Lu "was in her probationary driving period, driving on the highway, lacked driving experience and emergency handling capabilities, and was not accompanied by a driver with a valid driver's license for the corresponding vehicle type who had three years of experience, all of which were direct causes of the accident." Therefore, police concluded that Xiao Lu "bears full responsibility for the traffic accident," while Xiao Jing and Xiao Tian "bear no responsibility."
Two lawyers argued that the charges against Xiao Lu were "factually unclear and lacked sufficient evidence," and both declared her not guilty.
The lawyers contended that the case involved "biased and preferential treatment by police officers" and that "evidence collection was not conducted according to standard procedures," including confusing the bodies of Xiao Tian and Xiao Jing.
Moreover, although Xiao Lu admitted to being the driver in the body camera video, she later stated at the hospital that she was not the driver, indicating she was confused and disoriented after the accident, and her statements were contradictory. Therefore, the video cannot be used as evidence.
Regarding the injury assessment, which concluded that Xiao Tian was in the passenger seat because her left-side injuries were more severe, the defense pointed out that Xiao Lu's injuries were also concentrated on her left side.
One crucial piece of evidence provided by the prosecution is the photograph of the Volkswagen taken at 19h07 on 6/7/2024. This photo is also at the center of the dispute.
Xiao Lu's lawyers presented testimonies and opinions from 4 "specialized experts," including Guo Guangjun, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. They hope to prove, based on the time of the accident, the latitude and longitude of the location, the vehicle's shadow, and other factors, combined with geographical calculations or relevant software, that the photo captured by the camera "could not have been taken at that time and location; the correct time must have been around local noon."
In April 2026, her lawyers conducted a test shoot at the aforementioned highway checkpoint camera, hoping to demonstrate that the shadows of vehicles in photos taken by the camera around 19h in the evening are completely different from the shadows of vehicles in the photo provided by the prosecution. They hope this will be important evidence to overturn Xiao Lu's conviction in the appellate trial.
My Anh
