Police face probe over woman's heart attack
Zhongshan police are to launch an investigation after officers wrongfully forced their way into a Shenzhen apartment and caused an elderly woman to suffer a heart attack.
The woman, 68, and identified by her surname, Deng, was in critical condition in the intensive care unit of a Shenzhen hospital on Saturday afternoon, the Southern Metropolis News reported yesterday.
It said that on Tuesday afternoon, five Zhongshan policemen with officers from Shenzhen arrived at the apartment complex, saying they were there to arrest two fugitive drug dealers hiding in Ms Deng's flat.
The staff of the community administration office told the officers that the occupiers of the apartment were all locals. The Zhongshan officers refused to believe the registration data they were shown and broke into the apartment at 4pm.
Ms Deng thought the men were robbers, since they showed no identification or a search warrant at first. She shouted for help but was held down by two officers, the report said. Only after the Zhongshan police found nothing in the home and were preparing to leave did they reveal their identity, it said.
The Zhongshan officers later nabbed the fugitives in a building neighbouring Ms Deng's, the report said. By that time she had already fallen ill and asked her daughter, Ms Xiong, to report the break-in.
A Shenzhen policeman in Ms Deng's community said he had heard about the case. According to Shenzhen police records, he said Ms Xiong called at about 5pm on Tuesday to report that 'a stranger was in her family home'.
A Shenzhen policeman close to the case said the fugitives were not drug dealers but con men, the report said. A Shenzhen policeman who accompanied the Zhongshan officers declined to answer questions about the case, saying he was busy.
Zhongshan police could not be reached for comment late last night, but the report said an internal investigation group was to probe the incident for wrongdoing.
