Off-duty Hong Kong firefighter turns himself in over viral shopping centre row
Clip shows suspect, 48, shouting and shoving younger couple after accusing them of intentionally bumping into him and companion
An off-duty Hong Kong firefighter has been arrested after surrendering to police over an alleged assault, the South China Morning Post has learned, following a viral video showing him shouting at and shoving a young couple in a Mong Kok shopping centre.
A source said on Monday that the 48-year-old man turned himself in at Mong Kok Police Station on Sunday, accompanied by his wife. He told police he was a firefighter.
“The arrestee admitted that he had acted that way as he suspected the [other] man … had intentionally bumped into him,” the source said.
The arrest followed an online backlash triggered by a 24-second video, posted on Instagram on Saturday, showing an altercation between a middle-aged pair and a younger couple at Sim City shopping centre in Mong Kok.
In the video, the older couple accuse the younger pair of bumping into them at a crowded escalator entrance.
The video begins with the middle-aged woman saying she did not squeeze herself into the younger couple.