Fake Gun Falls From Failing Student’s Pocket During Professor Bribery Attempt

We’re not entirely sure how far 26-year-old Yang Li was willing to go in his attempt to bribe his professor for a passing grade, but he definitely brought the hardware. Well, sort of.

Li, a student at the University of Bath in England, bombed his dissertation. He scored a 37 percent on his work, which apparently isn’t as bad over there as it would be in the states (he needed a 40 percent to pass).

Still, Andrew Graves, his professor, did him a solid and told him he could re-work the 12,000-word essay and resubmit it to appeal his grade.

Either that, or he could withdraw from the course.

That’s when Li slipped into an episode of The Sopranos. He proclaimed himself to be a “businessman,” and dropped £5,000 ($7,600) in cash on the prof’s desk. “You can keep the money if you give me a pass mark and I won’t bother you again,” he reportedly said.

Professor Graves told Li to leave, and the young man collected his bribe money. That’s when an air pistol loaded with six pellets fell from his pocket.

Li was arrested and is now facing a year in jail. His lawyer said that Li kept the pistol for target practice and merely didn’t want to leave it in his car during the meeting with Professor Graves.

When the judge handed down the sentence, he colorfully branded Li a cautionary tale to any graduate student who dare attempt to bribe a professor:

“Your bid to achieve a pass mark by offering what was a bribe to your professor was ill-conceived to the point of being a spectacular mistake and one which was doomed to fail from the start,” Judge Michael Longman said.

[Image via: Drazen, Shutterstock.com]