BEIJING – A pedestrian's head was impaled with a knife that fell from an eighth-story balcony. Yunzhi Xiao, 57, was walking to a supermarket in Guangyuan, China, when he suddenly felt a "very heavy weight" on his head.
"It hurt a lot,” Xiao told NBC News from his hospital bed. “I cried out, ‘My head! My head hurts!’ but I did not know what had happened.” A street vendor shouted at Xiao, “There is a knife in your head!” He managed to walk another 100 yards before the pain became too much and he was forced to sit down at a phone booth. “Some warm-hearted people passing by saw me bleeding and called the police who took me to a traditional Chinese medicine hospital,” Xiao added. "A few hours later doctors took the knife out of my head." According to local media reports and what Xiao was told by police, a knife that was being used on a balcony garden was knocked over the ledge by the wind on Thursday.
Images showing Xiao’s wound and his unperturbed demeanor have circulated on China’s websphere, where the photo has been posted tens of thousands of times and commentators have honored him with the nickname, “Calm Brother.” The knife's owner was questioned by police and later visited Xiao at hospital to apologize.
- Ed Flanagan
NBC News’ Chaojie Zhou contributed to this report.