Ex-policeman guilty of assaulting Hong Kong Occupy protest bystander with baton in 2014
Former superintendent convicted three years on from incident in busy Mong Kok shopping district
A retired police superintendent was on Monday found guilty of assaulting a bystander at a 2014 protest in the aftermath of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy movement.
The judge in the case ruled it was “unacceptable” for Frankly Chu to justify hitting a pedestrian with a baton by claiming the man had been hostile.
The verdict was the second time a court had ruled against officers in a criminal case for using excessive force in policing the city’s 79-day demonstrations, which shut down major roads three years ago.
Former senior police officer Chu, 57, was convicted at Eastern Court of one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was remanded in custody pending sentencing on December 29, meaning he will spend his birthday – on Christmas Day – in prison.
Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai sought a background report on Chu and a report on his suitability for community service. But she noted that at the time of the incident, Chu was a senior serving police officer.
“I think it’s a serious offence,” she said.
Chu attacked bystander Osman Cheng Chung-hang near Shanghai Commercial Bank on Argyle Street with a 25cm baton weighing 350 grams on November 26, 2014, when police were carrying out an operation to prevent protesters from reoccupying the busy shopping district of Mong Kok.