Police Blasted For Delaying Treatment To Shot Teen

A Tuen Mun hospital cardiologist has hit out at police officers for waiting three minutes before providing first aid to a teenager who is recovering after being shot in the chest by a live round during a protest in Tsuen Wan on Tuesday.

Dr Alfred Wong, who is also a member of the doctors' group Médecins Inspirés, said such a long delay in treatment could mean the difference between life and death.

Videos circulating online showed the 18-year-old lying unattended on the ground for around three minutes while officers were subduing other protesters. The force had argued that officers needed to tame the chaotic situation before being able to tend to the injured teenager.

But Wong said the form five pupil could easily have died while he was lying there waiting for help.

“It is obviously a very serious gunshot wound, the bullet was shot right into the left chest of that student. The officer who shot that bullet, that live ammunition, must have known that this bullet had caused a potentially fatal injury. The officers on the scene should have paid attention to the patient immediately after the gun fire”, Wong said.

“Three minutes can potentially be a difference between life and death because it is the left chest that we are talking about. We are talking about a place in the body where the heart lies, where the lung lies, where the subclavian artery lies … it is extremely fortunate that this student did not die on the scene actually”, the doctor told RTHK's Janice Wong.

The student, who is still being treated in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, has since been charged with rioting and assaulting police officers.