Suspicious Electricity Bill of Chinese Couple... US Police Raid Darkened House "Liability for Compensation"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A Chinese couple in the United States who were raided by the police for conserving electricity will receive a large compensation payment.

According to the Chinese state media Global Times on the 9th, a Chinese couple residing in Riverside County, California, USA, will receive $136,000 (approximately 188 million KRW) in compensation from the police.

The incident occurred last summer amid soaring electricity rates in the United States. At that time, the couple made efforts to save on electricity bills by using minimal electricity. During the day, they used a small amount of energy stored in solar panels installed on the roof, and at night, they mostly lived with the lights off.

The Riverside County Police Department found this suspicious. Comparing their electricity bill to that of their neighbors, the police suspected that the couple might have been illegally using electricity from others.

Accordingly, in August last year, the police raided the couple’s two houses to check if they were involved in illegal electricity theft. However, the couple was simply living frugally. It was also reported that the police raided the premises without a search warrant at that time.

The local court recognized that "the couple suffered serious material damages amounting to $6,000 (approximately 8.298 million KRW), including broken windows caused by the police raid, and the damage from abuse of authority was significant," holding the police responsible for compensation.

Meanwhile, Chinese media have been reporting on this incident one after another. Local netizens mainly reacted by saying, "The United States abused its authority to target an innocent Chinese couple and caused them to live in fear." Some criticized, "This is an incident that publicly exposed how unprofessional and shameful the US police conduct themselves."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.