Police Drop Fine on Tackled Girl

12-year-old girl tackled by police in September in Mong Kok

 

Remember back on the evening of September 7 when a 12-year-old girl was tackled to the ground in Mong Kok when she went out to buy school supplies?

In the footage she looked nervous and ran from the officers, who then chased her and pinned her to the ground while there was a protest happening against the one year postponement of elections for the Legislative Council. 

She nervously flees the police who later tackle her

The girl and her brother were both fined for violating social-distancing rules. 

At the time Police Commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung had claimed the girl acted "suspiciously" as she ran away from officers and that prompted the police to react and use "minimum force" to subdue her.

There was outrage at the police for being so rough with the girl, and now it seems the force may have realized its actions were overboard.

Today the police dropped the fine, though no explanation was given in the notice from the police.

However Civic Party councillor Andy Yu Tak-po said the U-turn showed the police had made a mistake.

Will Tang apologize to the girl about the incident?

He will help the girl and her brother to file a complaint against the police and demand an apology from the police chief.

Good luck getting the apology from Tang, but at least the police finally rescinded the fine that was outrageous. Nevertheless the psychological scars from the incident will probably remain.