Li Qiming, the son of a senior police official who became a household name after he struck two female university students with his car and tried to escape, will face prosecution and punishment although the dead girl's family has reached a civil agreement with the driver's father.

Li Gang

A spokesman at Baoding Public Security Bureau in Hebei Province said Li remains in detention, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Li hit the two students with his car in Hebei University on October 16 and killed one girl, Chen Xiaofeng. The other student survived with injuries.

After the crash, Li kept on driving and then yelled, "Sue me if you dare, my father is Li Gang." His arrogant words became popular on the Internet and have come to symbolize the arrogance of officials and their children toward ordinary people.

Li Gang is a deputy director of a public security bureau in Baoding.

The procuratorate of Wangdu county approved Li Qiming's arrest on October 24 on the charge of causing traffic casualties, Xinhua reported.

Hu Yihua, Chen's family attorney, said the family reached a compensation agreement with Li on November 5, but refused to discuss the deal.

"The case has not been on trial," he told the Global Times.

The family earlier fired another lawyer Zhang Kai. The Associated Press reported earlier that the victim's father, Chen Guangqian, accepted 460,000 yuan (US$69,520) in compensation from Li Gang.

The victim's brother, Chen Lin, earlier told the Global Times that Li Qiming deserves the heaviest punishment, but the father told the AP that Li's colleagues had pressed him to accept cash and move on.

The Baoding Public Security Bureau said the criminal trial against Li Qiming would proceed even though a private compensation deal was made.

Calls to Chen's family and the Baoding Public Security Bureau went unanswered.

He Jiahong, a law professor at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times Wednesday that even if Chen's family back off from pursuing the case, Li Qiming still needs to stand trial.

Children and relatives of top officials have become a symbol of arrogance in the country.

A drunken driver, Jin Jianxiong, shouted "My uncle is Jin Guoyou, and you will be killed if you oppose me" when he was asked to take an alcohol test by police after his car crashed with another in Yongjia county, Zhejiang Province, on Friday.

Jin Guoyou was later found to be the deputy director of Yongjia Public Security Bureau, Beijing News reported.

(Global Times December 23, 2010)