Suspend deputy police officer of ward for assaulting witness at headquarters

On January 30, Colonel Luong Tan Dinh - Chief of Staff of Phu Yen Provincial Police, said that the provincial police leadership had directed Tuy Hoa City Police to strictly handle the case of the deputy police chief of Phu Yen ward.Thanh kicked a witness right at the police station.

On the same day, Colonel Nguyen Van Dung, Chief of Tuy Hoa City Police, said that the agency had decided to temporarily suspend Lieutenant Colonel Huynh Minh Le, Deputy Chief of Phu Thanh Ward Police; and at the same time, asked him to report for disciplinary action according to regulations due to violations at work.

Colonel Dung confirmed that Mr. Le kicked Mr. Le Huu Quoc (resident of Quarter 3, Phu Thanh Ward). “According to the initial report, when he arrived at the police station to work, Mr. Quoc drank beer and alcohol and spoke loudly. When Mr. Le reminded him, Mr. Quoc lay on the floor. Mr. Le acted inappropriately by kicking Mr. Quoc,” Colonel Dung informed.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Le Huu Quoc, on the afternoon of January 29, a fight broke out between two young men near his house. Mr. Quoc and another local young man jumped in to stop the fight. When arriving to resolve the matter, the Phu Thanh Ward Police took the two young men fighting and the two people who intervened to the ward police headquarters to work.

Lieutenant Colonel Huynh Minh Le - Deputy Police Chief of Phu Thanh Ward assaulted a witness lying on the floor. Photo cut from clip

Here, the Phu Thanh Ward Police took the two people who tried to stop the fight into two different rooms to take separate statements. “A moment later, I saw my younger brother who was there to testify come out of the room without wearing a shirt. Immediately after that, he returned to the room. I felt strange and ran after him to ask, and he replied that the police asked him to take off his shirt to take pictures of the injuries he sustained while trying to stop the fight. When I turned around, I saw Mr. Huynh Minh Le coming in. Mr. Le asked me where I was going, then he suddenly rushed in, choked me, and pushed me to the ground. Then, Mr. Le aggressively rushed in and kicked me repeatedly,” Mr. Quoc recounted.

According to Mr. Quoc, after his relatives took him home, nearly 10 police officers and some people in plain clothes came to his house and said they invited him to Tuy Hoa City Police Headquarters for questioning. Among them, some people wore bulletproof vests, some carried guns and batons, making Mr. Quoc's relatives very scared and indignant. Mr. Quoc did not agree to go to the police headquarters, protesting the "invitation" as if it were suppression.

“I did not commit any violation, I was just a person who stopped a fight between some young people. I was a witness, but the police brought forces and weapons to my house as if arresting a criminal, affecting my honor. Moreover, I was previously beaten and kicked by the deputy police chief for no reason when the police took me to the police station,” said Mr. Quoc.

The Chief of Tuy Hoa City Police said that initially the police agency determined that Mr. Quoc and another person were witnesses in the fight. Colonel Nguyen Van Dung said that the Phu Thanh Ward Police's invitation of the four people to the headquarters for questioning was in accordance with regulations.

The image of Deputy Police Chief of Phu Thanh Ward Huynh Minh Le kicking Le Huu Quoc while he was lying on the floor of the police headquarters, along with many police officers coming to Quoc's house, was recorded by some residents.