A Foodpanda worker who was arrested on suspicion of stealing a food delivery bag in January has been charged with assaulting an officer while detained.
Chiu, 21, told Apple Daily that when he reported to Tin Shui Wai police station as per his bail condition on Sunday, police informed him that he was being charged on suspicion of assaulting a police officer “with his head.”
The case will be heard at Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts on April 15, police confirmed in a statement to Coconuts.
Chiu was wrapping up a nighttime delivery shift on Jan. 2 when he was stopped by police at a park in Tin Shui Wai.
When they searched him and found a card with the “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our time” slogan in his wallet, they turned aggressive, demanding proof that he works for Foodpanda and asking to “speak to his manager.”
Holding up Chiu’s food delivery bag, an officer then quizzed him on the contents inside. When he failed to mention that there was a sticker stuck on the underside of the bag cover, police arrested him on suspicion of stealing the bag and transferred him to Tin Shui Wai police station.
At the station, Chiu was arrested again on an additional charge of police officer assault. According to a statement, he “used his head to attack a male officer.”
“I think this whole thing has been an abuse of power from the start,” the delivery worker said in an interview with Apple Daily.
Separately in February, Chiu was stopped and searched again by police in Tin Shui Wai. A video he filmed of the interaction showed police checking his wallet and pulling out two cards with protest slogans “Five demands, not one less” and “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our time” on them.
An officer insisted he read out the slogans to him because “he can’t understand them.” Chiu refused, saying that doing so could constitute a crime. He was released after that.
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