Police Accused Of Torturing Old Man In Hospital

Shocking security camera footage which appears to show two police officers beating a restrained man at a hospital was released to the public on Tuesday morning, with a lawmaker accusing the officers of torturing and humiliating the victim.

Democratic Party legislator Lam Cheuk-ting said he obtained the CCTV footage from North District Hospital, after receiving an appeal for help from a 62-year-old man who claims to be the victim of the beating in late June.

The man complained that he suffered a torn ligament in the ring finger of his right hand, multiple bruises, and had been left bleeding from the mouth.

In a video shown to the media, a man is shown to be restrained on a bed – with two uniformed officers at his side. One of them punched him several times in the genitals, both used their batons to poke and prod at the man, and an officer covered his face with a piece of clothing several times.

Lam said the man had been drunk, and was arrested for allegedly assaulting police. At a press conference, the man’s son said his father had shouted ‘black cops!’ – accusing them of being triad gangsters – before the assault.

Lam said that’s no justification for their apparent response.

“He was so drunk… the victim may have strongly criticised police officers [but] there is no reason for those officers to abuse their power to torture the victim, to humiliate him so seriously,” Lam said.

“As a police officer, he or she should act professionally”, he added.

Lam described the case as being one of the darkest pages in the history of Hong Kong police.

He pointed out that torture carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and he called on the police commissioner to take up the case seriously.

Lam said the victim’s son had filed a complaint with the police immediately after the incident in June, and they will follow up by requesting a criminal investigation.

The North District Hospital has confirmed that it had provided the footage to Lam.

Later on Tuesday, the police said in a media briefing that two police officers have been arrested in relation to the attack. An earlier police statement said no officers are allowed to abuse their powers, and the case will be handled fairly and impartially.

In a statement, North District Hospital said 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 police investigation.

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