Police are investigating a case in which a police officer stands accused of beating a local resident and a taxi driver without just cause, department officials said yesterday.

The Xi'an Municipal Police Bureau issued an investigative report yesterday saying the allegations are without merit.

Police spokesman Li Yuanbo, said the officer accused of beating the local resident acted properly with backup officers to restore order at a local hospital.

The incident occurred while the officer was on normal duty when he had conflict with Wei Yingxi, the complainant in the case.

Li said in the early morning on January 6, Wei sent a sick relative to a local hospital.

Because Wei was allegedly drunk, he quarrelled with the police officer who was at the hospital.

Wei, according to media reports, got into an altercation with an officer on duty at the hospital after he shouted in the hospital's corridors for a doctor.

The officer called in backup police who subdued Wei with force, and removed him from the building.

But some local newspapers earlier reported that Wei, a laid-off worker who lives in the Chang'an District of Xi'an, sent his ill daughter to a local hospital on January 7 and could not find the doctor on duty.

He then shouted in the hospital corridor.

However, his shouting did not attract any doctors, but caught the attention of a police officer in the hospital's emergency ward.

"The policeman cursed me unceasingly and I said to him it was none of his business," Wei said.

Wei alleges that the police used unnecessary force when they arrested him.

He told newspapers that an officer "abused" him by striking him in the face while others knocked him to the floor.

"And the men also beat the taxi driver who drove my daughter and me to the hospital, when the driver tried to stop them from fighting," Wei said.

The driver and Wei were forced to get in a police car to go to the Chang'an District's Weiqu Police Station, Wei said. After the men were detained for 30 minutes of questioning, they were allowed to leave.

Wei was in hospital for medical treatment. The driver was injured.

Two days later, Wei filed a complaint.

The police spokesman said yesterday the police used necessary force to subdue Wei and his friend to get them to leave the hospital and may have caused minor injuries. The purpose was to keep proper order at the hospital.

(China Daily January 19, 2004)