Surveillance camera shows Hong
Kong police bashing drunk man, 62, strapped to bed in hospital ward
By ALMEN CHUI
Shocking footage from a
security camera released on Tuesday shows two police officers attacking a man
while he was strapped to a hospital bed. A lawmaker described their actions in
the New Territories in late June as torture and humiliation.
Police confirmed at its daily
press briefing on Tuesday that two police had been arrested for assault causing
actual bodily harm.
Lam Cheuk-ting, a lawmaker
from the Democratic Party, said he obtained surveillance camera footage shot in
a ward at North District Hospital after receiving an appeal for help from a
62-year-old man who said he was tortured by police officers on June 26.
The 20-minute video shown at
the press conference shows a man surnamed Chung restrained on a bed in a
private ward. Two uniformed officers stood by the man, put on gloves and
slapped his face many times. They used Chung’s shirt to cover his mouth and
nose, slapped his head, then poked and pressed his eyes.
One of the police pulled his
pants down and punched him several times in the genitals. Both officers also
used their batons to poke and prod the man.
The two cops allegedly
threatened to harm the man’s wife and his two sons, reading out their names and
home address. The victim felt worried and didn’t tell his two sons what had
happened when they visited him in the hospital. He only told his son what he
endured when he got home after he was released on bail.
The man complained that he
suffered a torn ligament in the ring finger of his right hand, multiple bruises
and was left bleeding from the mouth.
Lam said the man was drunk and
had been arrested for allegedly assaulting police. His sons said he was
arrested for assault and taken to the hospital because he was drunk and
agitated.
One of the man’s sons said at
the press conference that his father had shouted “black cops” before the
assault, accusing the police of being triad gangsters. It is not known if his
remark stemmed from protests which had begun a couple of weeks earlier.
Lam described the case as one
of the darkest pages in the history of Hong Kong police. He said the officers
had abused their power to torture the victim and to humiliate him.
Officials at North District
Hospital confirmed that they had provided the footage to the MP Lam.
In a statement, North District
Hospital said the man was agitated when he was escorted by the police to its
accident and emergency department on June 25. He was sent to a “disturbed
patient room” and guarded by police.
It said medical staff checked
on the patient regularly but didn’t notice anything special and the patient was
discharged the next day. The hospital said the patient didn’t make any
complaint to medical staff during his stay. It said it would cooperate with any
police investigation.
Chief superintendent Tse
Chun-chung of the Police Public Relations Branch said they received a complaint
from Chung’s son at Wan Chai Police Headquarters in late June. They had tried
to reach Chung and his son four times but failed, he said.
On Tuesday morning, Lam showed
footage of the incident at a press conference. Police later arrested the two
officers involved. Tse emphasized that no officers are allowed to abuse their
powers.
In a statement, the police
force said they would follow up on the case in a fair, just and impartial
manner. The case has now been taken up by the Regional Crime Unit in New
Territories South for criminal investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment