Peddler hospitalized after beaten by Ho Chi Minh City police officer
Friday, April 15, 2016, 13:45 GMT+7
The public is calling for justice after video of a Ho Chi Minh City police officer beating a street vendor was uploaded to Facebook on Thursday.
Senior Lieutenant Colonel Duong Ngoc Thanh, deputy chief of police in District 6, affirmed on Thursday evening that investigators were probing and verifying footage of a confrontation between officer Luong Viet Ha and a street vendor.
The vendor, 28-year-old Thien Minh Phong, was hospitalized after the incident.
“Officials from the police department have visited the victim and offered his family full compensation for medical treatment,” Thanh said.
At around 11:00 am on Thursday, a four and a half minute video surfaced on Facebook depicting a physical encounter between Ha and Phong in an area at Binh Tien Market on Pham Phu Thu Street.
The video appears to show an argument between the two that ended in violence when the police officer wrestled the vendor to the ground.
As Ha began to drag the victim away, onlookers rushed into the frame to stop him.
After briefly recovering on the ground, Phong stood up with help from those around.
The victim was later taken to the emergency room of the 115 People’s Hospital in District 10.
According to newswire VnExpress, Phong suffered head injury and has not been able to interact properly with his family members, including his wife and child.
It is reported that he cannot talk much and can only nod or shake his head to answer.
Ha and his partners were dealing with the street vendors illegally occupying the sidewalks and roadways along the street at the market on the morning of the incident, the online newspaper quoted the officer as saying.
Phong was stopped by Ha when he attempted to get away, refusing to cooperate with the officer. A confrontation erupted then.
Colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, chief of staff at the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Police, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that officer Ha’s actions in the video violate regulations on police attitudes and behaviors.
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