American lawyer gets 4 months, 2 weeks’ jail for assaulting Hong Kong police officer amid 2019 protests
- Samuel Bickett, 37, had argued he was only attempting to restrain Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang because he failed to identify himself as a police officer
- But Magistrate Arthur Lam said the former bank employee’s actions constituted a serious threat to public order and could inspire imitation
An American lawyer has been jailed for four months and two weeks for assaulting a Hong Kong police officer at a railway station in late 2019.
In sentencing 37-year-old Samuel Phillip Bickett, a former Asia-Pacific compliance director at Bank of America Securities, on Tuesday, Eastern Court Magistrate Arthur Lam Hei-wei said the offence could not be tolerated, as it might inspire imitation and posed a serious threat to public order.
Bickett was found guilty last month of assaulting Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang near Exit F of Causeway Bay MTR station on December 7, 2019.
In April, prosecutors told the court Bickett had attacked Yu after the officer brandished his metal baton in a failed bid to stop a man who had allegedly jumped a turnstile. Bickett was said to have charged towards Yu in an attempt to snatch his weapon, punching the officer in the face and kneeling on his body in the scuffle that ensued.
But the American’s lawyer argued Yu had used excessive force against the suspected fare dodger, and Bickett had only attempted to control the officer for fear he might injure other commuters after hearing him deny being a member of the force.