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the 75-year-old father ran away from home after the surveillance video was exposed by the property management because he couldn't hold it in and defecated in the elevator.

the family contacted relatives and friends to help search, but to no avail.

a few days later, my father's body was found in a small woods more than ten kilometers away. it was badly decomposed and the police determined that it was suicide.

in the two weeks since the incident, the elderly man's family has negotiated with the property management many times, hoping that the property management can issue a statement of the situation and make a formal apology within the owners' group, but their request was rejected.

the property manager told the news that a public apology was not possible and suggested that the family take legal action.

text | news hot spot group

his 75-year-old father suddenly disappeared. zhou wei and his family contacted relatives and friends to help search for him, but to no avail. three days later, on the morning of september 8, his father's body was found in a small forest more than ten kilometers away.

the family believes that the cause of death is somewhat related to an accident that occurred in the community elevator more than ten days ago.

on august 24, when my father went downstairs alone to take out the trash, he suddenly had diarrhea and couldn't stand it anymore. he defecated in the elevator and caught it in a cardboard box. but there was still some feces left.

▲on august 25, the property management company released a surveillance video of an elderly person defecating in the elevator.

the next day, the property company staff posted the surveillance video to the homeowners group, and some owners expressed criticism. two or three days later, the father noticed strange looks when he went downstairs, and heard twice from residents about his "embarrassing story" being exposed.

the old man, who had a strong sense of self-esteem, became depressed and stayed at home, refusing to eat or drink. his family tried to persuade him, but it didn't work. on september 5, the old man took a bus and left the house, and never came back.

the death certificate provided by the old man’s son zhou wei showed that his father died at 10 am on september 5, 2024, and the cause of death was suicide.

zhou wei told "zheng zheng news" that his father committed suicide by cutting his wrists. the woods where the body was found was a surveillance blind spot, so zhou wei and his relatives searched for three full days.

however, two weeks have passed since the incident, and the elderly man’s family has negotiated many times, hoping that the property company will release a statement of the facts in the property group and make a formal apology, but the property company agreed and then went back on its word.

uncoded video

at 9:16 a.m. on august 25, a property staff member named chen sent a surveillance video that broke the tranquility of the owners' group. the video was 33 seconds long and showed the time as 12:30 a.m. on august 24. in the video, an old man defecated in the elevator.

this person is zhou wei's father, zhou song. zhou wei told the news that his father was preparing to go downstairs to throw away the garbage at noon that day, and he was the only one in the elevator. "the weather was hot those days, and my father had diarrhea. he couldn't hold it in in the elevator, but he took a cardboard box to catch (the excrement)."

according to the video, zhou song first pressed the elevator button for the first floor, and the elevator began to move down. after a moment, zhou song pressed the elevator button again in a panic, then took off his pants and put the cardboard box in his hand behind him to catch the excrement.

after the elevator arrived, the door opened. zhou song pulled up his pants while picking up the cardboard box and walked out of the elevator. there was a small amount of excrement on the ground. the video ends here.

this residential complex is located near shahu park in wuhan. it was built in 2012 and is mainly composed of slab buildings with high floors. some buildings are 33 stories high. zhou song lives on the 22nd floor and it takes some time to take the elevator downstairs.

the community is a newly rebuilt housing complex with complete living facilities and a strong civic atmosphere. there are various types of restaurants, health care, tea and other shops in the community, and a large number of middle-aged and elderly people live there.

zheng zheng news saw that residents often gathered in groups of three or five to chat, enjoy the cool air, or dance in the square outside the community.

since the video in the group was incomplete, the subsequent situation could not be seen. but zhou wei was sure that his father returned to the elevator to clean up the remaining garbage after throwing it away.

"we asked my father and he said he cleaned it himself." zhou wei's cousin li yan also said, "i believe he would definitely mop the floor. the residents in our corridor can all testify that my father is a person who usually mops the corridor clean. there is a mop made by my father himself outside. after mopping the floor every day, he will go to the first floor to wash the mop. many residents can see it."

▲the mop used by the old man to clean the corridor

an elderly man in the community also told zhengzheng news, "(zhou song) loves cleanliness. he mopped the floor very clean, and then washed the mop after coming down. he used a mallet to clean the mop like rural people do when washing clothes, and then carried a bucket of water upstairs."

what made zhou wei and li yan angry was that the property management did not inform their family about this before the surveillance video was released.

"if the property management wants to expose the problem, they may do so only after repeated warnings and visits to the customer's home have been fruitless," said li yan.

but the property management was indiscriminate and did not bother to find out the truth. "without any cover-up, they exposed the floor information and personal characteristics. the owners knew who it was at a glance."

when the video was released, it had been 20 hours since the defecation incident. li yan believed that the property management had plenty of time and opportunity to tell her family about the incident.

li yan also said that she had never seen the property management expose any other owner's uncivilized behavior in such a long time in the owner group, "not to mention that this was an elderly man who was not feeling well at the time."

the owner group that posted the video has a full membership of 500 people. zhou wei said that the property staff seemed to have been deliberately selected.

zhou wei's younger brother zhou jian lived in the same unit, but when he joined the group, the owner group 1 was full, so zhou jian had to join group 2 with more than 100 people. the video was only posted in group 1.

"my brother didn't see the property management post a video in group 2. if the purpose was to notify all owners, why didn't they release the news at the same time so that everyone would know?" zhou wei said.

although my cousin li yan was in group 1 of the owners, she was traveling and was unable to pay attention to the group chat information in the first place.

in response to this, the property manager zhu of the residential complex responded to "zhengxin news" that the video was not posted in another owner group because "many people commented after the video was released, so it was kept posted (stopped)."

manager zhu also said that on august 24, the property staff received a complaint from the owner and only then did they realize there was feces in the elevator. the property then notified the cleaning staff to clean it up and check the surveillance footage.

it was discovered that someone had defecated in the elevator at around 12 o'clock, and "no one cleaned it up afterwards, just covered it with a piece of paper."

manager zhu said that the property staff conducted identification on the same day, but no one could recognize the person from the back, so the video was sent directly to the owners' group the next day.

"it was to serve as a warning. if he cleaned it up, it wouldn't exist. it wasn't intentional to expose it, it was just that i didn't find the person at the time."

father who left home and committed suicide

two or three days after the "elevator poop" incident, the whole family was still in the dark and zhou song went out for a walk as usual.

since the neighbors have known each other for decades and often get together to chat, zhou song noticed that the neighbors passing by seemed to be pointing and talking about something, but he didn't know what it was about.

one day, a familiar neighbor told zhou song that the video of him defecating in the elevator was posted to the homeowners group by the property management, and the neighbor also reminded him to be more careful in the future. even though this reminder was well-intentioned, zhou song couldn't help but feel embarrassed and guilty.

zhou song’s wife li zhen told the news that the old man had been in a bad mood since he returned home that day. he refused to eat or drink at home, slept for several days, and did not go out again.

li zhen asked zhou song what happened, and zhou song told her the whole story. he also said that he went back to the elevator and cleaned up the remaining things.

li zhen and his family kept trying to persuade him: he didn't do it on purpose, it had never happened before (incontinence), and he returned to clean up afterwards; plus, as he is old, it is understandable that people have the three urgent needs.

li zhen also said, "the old man is a strong-willed person. although he has no pension, he wants to give me the money he earns from selling cardboard boxes every month to help with the family expenses. i told him to keep it for himself because it is his hard-earned money."

zhou song's mood improved a lot after his family's advice. but when he went out again, he heard his neighbors talking about the incident, and his mood fell to the bottom again.

zhou wei showed the group chat record that he saw only after the incident to "zhengxin news". after the property management released the video, it was captioned "uncivilized behavior of the owner". two minutes later, owners spoke one after another, "call the police", "disgusting", "this is too much".

▲owner group chat history

amid a series of accusatory and insulting comments, the property management company did not intervene to maintain the direction of the discussion in the group, which made li yan angry. "they just uploaded a video and left it alone without explaining the cause and effect of the incident. they did not handle the situation or make a statement afterwards. (leading to) the owners blaming the daddy."

on september 5, zhou song went downstairs for a walk as usual. li zhen did not expect that her husband would not come back after going out this time.

on the evening of the 5th, zhou song did not return home, so zhou wei and zhou jian called the police. because each police station has a limited jurisdiction and therefore limited surveillance coverage, the brothers could only check surveillance at police stations near the community one by one.

since it takes 24 hours to file a case after reporting the case to the police, zhou wei could only mobilize all his relatives and friends to help him find his father. "we searched under the bridge and by the river with flashlights, and our taxi driver friend also helped, but we couldn't find him."

finally, on the evening of the 6th, a police officer from yujiatou police station told zhou wei, "your father got on bus no. 540 and got off at the terminal." as it was already late at night, zhou wei and his brother searched for his father along the bus route again the next morning.

bus no. 540 runs from wuchang railway station to wuhan railway station, and has a stop more than 700 meters away from the community.

finally, around 11 a.m. on september 8, zhou jian found a body that he thought was his father's in the woods next to wuhan railway station. "when my brother saw it, he didn't dare to go over and called the police right away. the 110 and 120 ambulances came right away to maintain the scene. i went to see my father for the last time," zhou wei said.

according to the death certificate presented by the police, zhou song died at 10 am on september 5.

▲death certificate issued by the police

when the body was found, zhou song had been dead for about 72 hours, and because the temperature in wuhan that week was close to 40 degrees, the body was severely decomposed. zhou wei recognized his father from the remaining facial features.

"i told the police at the time, 'no need to do a dna test, this is my father.'" according to zhou wei's description, his father had an obvious scar on his wrist and two or three scars on his thigh. a knife was also found at the scene, and the police determined that zhou song committed suicide.

because the body was severely decomposed, the family chose to keep the funeral simple and buried the old man in wuhan on september 10. zhou wei said that he could not imagine the state of mind in which his father chose to commit suicide.

"the old man is so cruel, he can really cut it." zhou wei said.

the conflict between the old man and the property company

zhou song was born in 1949 and grew up in a rural area of ​​jianli, hubei. in the 1960s and 1970s, li zhen, a girl from wuhan, went to the countryside as an educated youth and met him. they got married in 1972.

later, when the educated youth returned to the city, zhou song followed his wife to live in wuhan. li zhen said that although her husband had not received any education, he was hardworking and could do some manual work. after arriving in wuhan, he did odd jobs to make a living.

▲the old man left the clean and spacious room for his wife to live in

li zhen is a native of wuhan and has lived in the shahu area of ​​wuhan since childhood. li zhen, 70 years old this year, is a retired worker with a monthly pension of more than 3,000 yuan. his parents made a living by fishing, and they have "three or four generations of friendship with their neighbors."

after the house was demolished in 2014, zhou song and li zhen lived with their son zhou wei's family in hankou. in january 2021, the old couple moved to their current community and lived in the same building with their youngest son and li zhen's younger brother.

zhou wei said that apart from the inevitable decline in physical function of the elderly, the couple are in good health, have no major diseases, and can take care of themselves. "my mother used to often dance square dance downstairs."

after his father's accident, zhou wei came to stay with his mother every day because he was worried that his mother would be overly sad or not get enough rest at night.

although zhou song has a rural hukou and no pension, he still works odd jobs to supplement his family income. zheng xinwen saw the small trailer zhou song used to pick up cardboard boxes at his home.

▲the trailer used by the old man to pick up cardboard boxes

zhou wei said that these were relics that should have been disposed of when his father was buried, but his mother was reluctant to part with them and wanted to keep a last bit of memory.

on september 21, the owner of a shop near the community told the news that zhou song often picked up cardboard boxes at the door for about a year. he came three or four times a day and sometimes left at 11 o'clock in the evening. "i haven't seen this old man for about half a month."

"although i don't know the uncle's last name, there was only one uncle coming in that direction (the community). he pushed a trailer, and when we cleared out the kitchen waste, he went over to pick out the waste paper boxes, and then used a broom to clean the floor. he was a very nice person," said the owner.

zhou wei said that from 2021 to 2022, his father worked in an internet cafe run by a relative. "he cleaned the place in the morning and took beverage bottles and discarded cartons to the recycling station to sell. his relatives took good care of him and gave him a salary."

the work in the internet cafe was very complicated day after day, and zhou wei couldn't bear to see his father so tired, so he advised him to go home and rest. "but he still couldn't sit still, so he applied for a job as a cleaner at the (community) property management to help with the cleaning."

zhou song's work in the property lasted only one month.

"at the time, during the evaluation of 'excellent corridor', he accidentally cut his hand while helping others lift glass and needed five stitches." li zhen said that the property manager at the time believed that this was not part of zhou song's job content and therefore could not be identified as a work injury. zhou song had to pay for the stitches and tetanus shot at his own expense.

after the staff of the community property owners' committee learned of the situation, they helped zhou song and his wife communicate with the property management. "the people in the property owners' committee said that the wound was quite large, and it was caused by working for them (the property management)." but in the end, they were unsuccessful in claiming the medical expenses.

after this, zhou song decided to resign. what he didn't expect was that the property management company would deduct his salary because he didn't punch in and out at get off work.

in this regard, li zhen said that zhou song worked every day, but did not know that he needed to punch in at work, "so the property management thought he was absent from work."

this incident left zhou song and the property company with a bad impression of each other. this conflict also made zhou song's family suspect that the subsequent "surveillance exposure" was a "targeted" behavior of the property company.

li yan said that although the property manager when zhou song worked and the current property manager are not the same person, she understands that the property staff are relatives.

in this regard, manager zhu told "zheng zheng news" that he did not know mr. zhou before, and no one mentioned the incident again after the video was released. no owner or property management staff said that the person in the video was mr. zhou. it was not until september 6 that mr. zhou's family told him who the person in the video was.

when asked whether the complete surveillance footage from that time was preserved, manager zhu said that the elevator surveillance could only be saved for 24 hours and could not be viewed now.

the "apology statement" that cannot be obtained

the dead cannot be resurrected, zhou wei and his mother just want their father to die with dignity. "my father is a clean person, i want him to die with dignity."

after the funeral, zhou wei and li zhen contacted the property management again, hoping that the property management would issue a statement and apologize in the group of owners who posted the video.

▲the family posted a statement in the community

however, the property management has not taken any action since it learned about their father's disappearance on the 6th, which made zhou wei and li zhen dissatisfied.

"my mother-in-law (my aunt li zhen) went to the property management to argue, but they didn't say anything." li yan questioned, "according to common sense, when something like this happens in the community, shouldn't they come to my house to understand (the situation) out of humanitarianism?"

after unsuccessful communication with the property management, li yan had no choice but to find the community grid workers on september 11, the day after zhou song was buried, hoping that they could communicate with the property management and ask them to issue an apology statement.

on the afternoon of the 11th, accompanied by the grid worker, the property manager came to li zhen's home, admitted his mistake at work, and said that the surveillance video was released with his consent.

manager zhu verbally promised to issue a statement in the form of an obituary. li yan hesitated, "maybe an obituary is not appropriate, and the person is not famous, but if the whole story can be clearly written, we as family members can still accept it."

the next day, there was still no statement from the owners' group, so the zhou family went to the property management again to inquire. to the zhou family's surprise, manager zhu's attitude took a 180-degree turn, and he said that he could not apologize publicly.

zhou wei immediately gave in, saying that he could ask the property company's legal department to issue a certificate, "after the apology, our family will no longer pursue any responsibility for this matter, and will not ask for any financial compensation." however, the property company still refused. "we have already humbled ourselves to this extent, but he still said no."

on the evening of september 12, zhou wei wrote a "facts statement", printed it out and posted it in the corridor, and also posted it in the homeowners group. the article reads, "in desperation, we just made the incident public, hoping that everyone will understand the truth, and we also hope that the company can apologize publicly as soon as possible, so that the deceased can rest in peace!"

after the news was released, many owners in the group expressed regret. "i see that kind-looking old man almost every day." some owners also condemned the property's previous behavior, saying, "you can find a lawyer to sue the property for violating your portrait rights and reputation rights." "everyone has embarrassing moments, let alone an old man?"

▲chat record of the owner group on september 12

in this regard, manager zhu told zhengzheng news, "i verbally promised (the family) that i was willing to issue an obituary and express my regret, but the family asked for a public apology, which changed the nature of the matter." manager zhu said, "(if the family has any demands) i still suggest going through the legal process, or if the impact on our company is too great, we will also sue him."

currently, zhou wei and his family are preparing to take legal action.

is it appropriate for a property management company to release a video of an elderly person defecating in an elevator? lawyer xu hao from beijing jingshi law firm said that for the sake of protecting the public interest, the property management company can make the video public in moderation if the person concerned refuses to change after repeated admonitions and repeated persuasion fails.

however, the property management of the community did not verify the reason why the old man defecated in the elevator, nor did they persuade him, but rashly disclosed the matter without any obstruction, violating the old man's privacy, reputation and portrait rights.

"mr. zhou's family can file a lawsuit against the property management company as the plaintiff, requiring it to eliminate the adverse impact, make a public apology and compensate for mental damage, etc." xu hao said.

should the property management company be held responsible for the old man’s death? xu hao said that the property management company’s exposure of the old man’s death caused mr. zhou’s mental damage, which led to the old man running away from home and even committing suicide. the property management company should bear part of the fault for the old man’s death. “the specific proportion of responsibility shall be subject to the court’s decision.”

(to protect the privacy of the interviewees, all names in this article are pseudonyms)