A taxi driver, who eventually died after allegedly being put under a chokehold during a police arrest, was unlawfully killed, a Coroner's Court jury found in a retrial after a two-day deliberation.
The five-strong jury, consisting of three women and two men, reached a 4-1 majority on Thursday after over 12 hours of deliberation for the same verdict in the first trial back in 2018.
The jury said in the verdict that the incident showed that police officers' misconduct might threaten the safety of arrestees, therefore called on the police force to install cameras in the cabin of police vehicles to ensure arrestees' safety.
The court heard that the cabbie, Chan Fai-wong, 65, went into a scuffle with one of his passengers in November 2012 prompted by route issues.
When police officers arrived, they took the passenger, who claimed to be beaten by Chan, to the hospital and attempted to arrest Chan under suspicion of assault.
Police constable Lam Wai-wing, alongside other officers, claimed that Chan was uncooperative and therefore had to subdue him and move him into the police vehicle.
But Lam, who admitted to "locking Chan by the neck" in the 2018 trial, changed his testimony during the retrial to "touching Chan's neck".
Chan later claimed to be in discomfort the same night, and was diagnosed with a cervical dislocation, causing him to be paralyzed, and eventually died from complications a month later.
The jury ruled that Chan died due to complications caused by the cervical dislocation, prompted by police officers locking him by the neck while attempting to move Chan into a police vehicle.
After listening to the verdict, Chan's daughters called on authorities in a written statement to reopen a criminal investigation as the Coroner's Court twice found the case with manslaughter suspicions.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the government will review the verdict, while adding that the police officers involved are still a member of the police force. He added that the police have already stepped up officers' training based on the jury's suggestions in the 2018 trial.
