Hong Kong policeman jailed for 6 months and fined for drink-driving after high-speed chase

A Hong Kong police officer has been jailed for six months and fined HK$15,500 (US$2,000) for driving colleagues to work without a licence on five occasions, before he was arrested on a sixth for drink-driving.

Constable Keung Kei-kit, 26, was arrested and suspended from duty after initially getting away following a high-speed police chase last year.

Sha Tin Court on Tuesday also barred Keung from driving for two years. It ordered him to take a driving improvement course at his own expense within the last three months of his disqualification period.

His father, retired policeman Keung Chi-yung, 59, was sentenced to 160 hours of community service, fined HK$12,500 and disqualified from driving for two years for lending his BYD electric car to the unlicensed officer to drive between October and December of 2023.

Acting principal magistrate Cheang Kei-hong refused the defence’s request for a short jail sentence commensurate with the period the constable had spent on remand after pleading guilty last month.

“It cannot simply be three weeks in jail for him,” Cheang said. “He faces multiple charges and has broken the law one time after another. His sentence will have to be measured in months.”