(Minghui.org) A 62-year-old woman suffered a lumbar vertebral compression fracture after being kicked in the lower back by a police officer, who was attempting to forcibly collect her hand prints. She was then held in custody for 15 days without being given medical treatment.
Ms. Yao Weimin, a resident of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested when she was on her way to pick up her grandson on July 3, 2019. She was targeted for not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, a mind and body improvement system that has been persecuted in China since 1999.
Six police officers from Pishijie Police Station forced Ms. Yao into a police vehicle and drove directly to her daughter’s home, where she has been living after her husband passed away.
With two officers watching the door, four others ransacked Ms. Yao’s place and confiscated her personal belongings and Falun Gong materials as evidence to charge her.
The police took Ms. Yao to the police station and locked her in a metal cage. Eight officers came and attempted to force Ms. Yao to give her hand prints.
She resisted as they held her hands down. The officers tried to straighten her fingers as she tightly held closed her fists. One female officer kneed Ms. Yao in the lower back, causing her to immediately collapse to the ground.
While Ms. Yao was immobile, the officers took her hand prints. The female officer also took off her shoes and collected her foot prints.
Ms. Yao was next left in the metal cage without being given any food or water for a day. She was unable to stand and also felt extremely uncomfortable sitting down. She had to lean on the cage to minimize the pain.
At her request, a female officer bought some bread with Ms. Yao's money on the next day.
On the evening of July 4, the police transferred Ms. Yao to Lumu Detention Center. The detention center initially refused to admit her because of her hypertension, but the police blamed her for faking the condition and forced the guards to accept her.
Ms. Yao was practically immobile because of her back injury. She couldn’t turn when she slept and needed to hold on to a rail in order to stand up. She was in extreme pain when she coughed. She tried to do the Falun Gong exercises to relieve the pain, but was stopped by the guards.
Five days later her blood pressure surged to 200 mmHg.
When she was released after 15 days of detention, she was emaciated and disfigured.
Her family took her to a hospital, and she was diagnosed with a L1 spinal compression fracture.
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