Police defend officer accused of misusing force
( 2004-01-18 23:20) (China Daily, Lu Hongyan/Ma Lie )
Police in Xi'an are investigating a case in which a police officer stands
accused of beating a local resident and a taxi driver without just cause,
department officials said Sunday.
The Xi'an Municipal Police Bureau
issued an investigative report Sunday saying the allegations were without merit.
Police spokesman Li Yuanbo, said the officer accused of beating the
local resident acted properly with backup officers to restore order at a local
hospital.
The incident occurred when the officer was on normal duty when
he had conflict with Wei Yingxi, the complainant in the case.
Li said in
the early morning on January 6, Wei sent a sick relative to a local
hospital.
Because Wei was allegedly drunk, he quarrelled with the police
officer who was at the hospital.
Wei, according to media reports, got
into an altercation with an officer on duty at the hospital after he shouted in
the hospital's corridors for a doctor.
The officer called in backup
police who subdued Wei with force, and removed him from the building.
But
some local newspapers earlier reported that Wei, a laid-off worker who lives in
the Chang'an District of Xi'an, sent his ill daughter to a local hospital on
January 7 and could not find the doctor on duty.
He then shouted in the
hospital corridor.
However, his shouting did not attract any doctors, but
caught the attention of a police officer in the hospital's emergency
ward.
"The policeman cursed me unceasingly and I said to him it was none
of his business,'' Wei said.
Wei alleges that the police used unnecessary
force when they arrested him.
He told newspapers that an officer "abused"
him by striking him in the face while others knocked him to the floor.
"And the men also beat the taxi driver who drove my daughter and me to
the hospital. When the driver tried to stop them from fighting," Wei said.
The driver and Wei were forced to get in police car to go to the
Chang'an District's Weiqu Police Station, Wei said. After the men were detained
for 30 minutes of questioning, they were allowed to leave.
At present,
Wei was in hospital for medical treatment. The driver was also injured.
Two
days later, Wei filed a complaint.
The police spokesman said yesterday
the police used necessary force to subdue Wei and his friend to get them to
leave the hospital and may have caused minor injuries. The purpose was to keep
proper order at the hospital.
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