Off-duty cop handed community service order for drunk driving

A 47-year-old off-duty cop was ordered 100 hours of community service and a six-month license suspension after he pleaded guilty on Tuesday to drunk-driving after crashing a van in Mong Kok last April. 

The defendant Li Suet-fai is currently suspended from police duty. He earlier pleaded guilty to driving with an alcohol concentration level above the prescribed limit and dangerous driving. 

The incident occurred around 4 am on April 2 last year when police found the van parked on Dundas Street with Li asleep in the driver seat. Officers asked Li to open the door but Li drove the van back and forth and ultimately rammed into a traffic light. 

Li subsequently failed an alcohol breath test and admitted under police caution that he had been drinking before driving. 

In West Kowloon Court on Tuesday, magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming accepted the recommendation of the probation officer and sentenced Li to 100 hours of community service. 

Wan also suspended Li’s driving license for six months and ordered him to enroll in a driving improvement course.