‘Sorry ... what do you expect?’ says former top policeman on trial for Occupy assault
Frankly Chu recalls that his actions were instantaneous as he had perceived accuser to be part of an aggressive mob
A retired senior police officer in Hong Kong on trial over the assault of a bystander during the 2014 Occupy protests said “sorry lor” for his actions in court on Friday, admitting that he hit his accuser with a baton on instinct.
“It was a matter of one second, what do you expect me to be thinking at the time?” Frankly Chu said on the fifth day of the trial as he added the casual Cantonese suffix “lor” to his impromptu apology.
The former superintendent, 57, has denied one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was accused of striking Osman Cheng Chung-hang, 28, in the neck with a baton outside Shanghai Commercial Bank in Mong Kok on November 26, 2014.
I should have just let them stay: ex-cop on trial for Occupy assault
Cheng testified that he had told police he was a bystander but was still struck in the neck by Chu’s baton, despite obeying instructions to leave the area outside the bank.
When prosecutor Daniel Marash SC pointed this out to Chu on Friday, the former officer replied: “I regarded him as part of a mob that charged at the police cordon.”
“He had every opportunity to leave,” he said. “Therefore when I took that police action and if he was trapped or caught in the middle then sorry lor, that’s not something I can control.”