By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-23 12:32:14 | Updated at 2024-09-30 09:29:00
6 days ago
Hong Kong’s police chief has again defended an officer’s decision to shoot an armed, mentally ill man who later died, saying officers need to follow guidelines regardless of the condition of those involved.
Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee was responding on Monday to complaints by the man’s widow that the actions of officers against her husband, a regular psychiatric patient, were “unacceptable”.
Siu said the public should not label mentally ill patients, stressing the officer concerned had been preliminarily found to have complied with internal guidelines on firearms use.
“We should not label those who are mentally ill. In this incident, no matter if the person has mental illness or not, we will still follow our relevant firearms and use of force guidelines to act accordingly,” Siu said after attending an event.
He said the officer had made his decision based on the relevant guidelines.
