Drunk-driving American prosecuted after hit-and-run

HOHHOT - A US national has been prosecuted in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region for injuring a pedestrian while driving under the influence of alcohol, according to an announcement by the local procuratorate on Friday.

The Baotou Municipal People's Procuratorate identified the American as Peck Guy Edward, an English teacher at the Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology.

He is alleged to have borrowed a mini-bus from a friend after drinking in the small hours of March 3. He hit a pedestrian at a crossroads before fleeing the scene.

Edward told the police that he left the accident site because he feared he could not communicate with the injured person in Chinese.

He said he contacted an interpreter to accompany him back to the site 40 minutes after the accident, but found the injured had been taken to hospital.

The pedestrian had broken a leg in the collision.

Edward turned himself into police at 2:35 am the same day, at which point the level of alcohol in his system was found to be 105.1 mg per 100 ml of blood.

China amended its Criminal Law on May 1 last year, so that it now stipulates that all drunk driving, regardless of the occurrence of road accidents or other serious consequences, constitutes a criminal offence.

Drivers with a blood-alcohol level over 20 mg per 100 ml are considered in breach of the law, and can be punished with a prison term of a number of months.