Police deny assaulting teen at roadblock, found him injured

Police have denied injuring a teenage motorcyclist, whose father claimed he was assaulted at a traffic roadblock.

Shah Alam deputy police chief Nek Zaidi Zakaria said police had discovered the boy - 16-year-old Mikail Quay - after he fell off his bike.

"We found him (after he fell) and then we called an ambulance. We did not ask him to push his bike to the roadblock, he pushed it on his own accord," Nek Zaidi told Malaysiakini.

He said the incident occurred as police were about to wrap up a roadblock targeting mat rempits, on Feb 18.

Mikail - who did not have a license - was said to have turned back to evade the roadblock when he was struck in the head.

Klang MP Charles Santiago, who assisted Mikail's father in lodging a police report over the matter, said the youth had said that a policeman had struck him.

"He was hit with a baton that went straight to his forehead," Charles said when contacted.

The DAP lawmaker, who met the boy while he was warded in hospital, said there was blue-black bruising on the boy's head.

The youth's father had informed him that Mikail had at the time, suffered from double vision as well as serious injuries to the skull.

"However the father says his vision is improving, and he was discharged from the hospital (on Feb 24)," Charles said.

Nek Zaidi however, said Mikail gave a different account of the incident when police took his statement.

"We asked him if he saw if anyone had hit him, and he said no," Nek Zaidi said.

He also said the preliminary reports from the doctor did not indicate that Mikail suffered any serious injury beyond bruising on the right side of his head.

Nonetheless, he said police were investigating the matter under Section 324 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means.- Mkini