A police officer in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district is accused of beating a villager who would not relinquish his spot on a pool table at a local bar, an allegation the officer’s superior strongly denied.

Yin Neng, 25, suffered a bloodied jaw and bruises after police officer Sim Oeun allegedly attacked him in a drunken state. “Oeun pulled my son’s collar and boxed, kicked and kneed him and blood flowed out of his mouth,” Neng’s father, Yin Nuong, said yesterday.

District police yesterday denied the accusations, saying Neng had been drinking and acting aggressively, and to calm him down, the officer had “accidentally touched [Neng’s] mouth, causing him to bleed”.

The case was sent to district police.