A TAXI driver will face a Beijing court for allegedly running over and killing a man sleeping on the road in the early morning and then fleeing the scene.

Dongcheng district procuratorate informed media of the upcoming case involving a driver surnamed Li, Beijing News said Tuesday.

Street-side closed-circuit television captured the incident at 4 am on Dec 5. Prosecutors said it showed a man stagger onto a public road and then lie face-down. He was narrowly missed by two cars but struck by the VW Jetta taxi five minutes later.

The car was said to drag the man 45 m down the road before it turned onto another street and parked. The video showed the taxi driver had hit the brakes when the car struck the man, but then drove on, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Li's statement and GPS record showed he had been working under extreme tiredness and should bear the main responsibility for the accident, according to Beijing News.

Li told police he had taken two short smoking breaks and a one-hour sleeping break during his shift, which started at 2 pm the previous day.

Li said he had not seen the man in the road. He said he later noticed a problem with the taxi's steering system and also a persistent noise. After turning the corner, he pulled over and got out. When he found the body, Li said he got back in the car and drove away in a state of panic.

Li told police he had returned to the scene later, but after seeing the authorities, left to clean his vehicle. He was caught by police that day and arrested on hit-and-run charges.

According to forensics, the victim, surnamed Wang, died when a rib punctured his heart.

Wang, a laid-off worker, was said to have been drunk at the time and should bear partial responsibility for the incident, Beijing News said.

-China Daily/Asia News Network