A Hong Kong police officer seen putting a taxi driver who later died into a chokehold has told an inquest that he came into contact with the man’s neck “accidentally” during a struggle.
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Constable Lam Wai-wing was part of a police team handling a report made by taxi driver Chan Fai-wong on November 11, 2012, and his subsequent arrest for assault.
Lam told the Coroner’s Court on Wednesday that his initial attempt to move Chan into a police vehicle was unsuccessful, with surveillance footage showing him locking the taxi driver by the neck.
The court is re-examining the death of Chan, 65, in December 2012, a month after his arrest. He died from complications from a cervical dislocation.
Chan, who was taking a Japanese couple from West Kowloon to Hong Kong Island on November 11, 2012, parked his taxi near the administration building of the Western Harbour Tunnel due to a dispute with the male passenger at the toll booth. Chan made a report to police.
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Lam said he had physical contact with Chan out of a responsibility to control an arrested person, describing the driver as emotionally agitated, uncooperative and putting up “defensive resistance” when officers tried to put him into a police car for further questioning at a police station.