[6] Early on 4 November, a 22-year-old[7] second-year computer science undergraduate student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Chow Tsz-Lok,[8] sustained severe head injuries due to a fall from the third to the second storey of the Sheung Tak car park in Tseung Kwan O,[8][1] near an area of confrontation between protesters and police.
[11] CCTV footage showed that Chow was wandering alone, backwards and forwards between the inside the car park and on a connecting footbridge from 0:26 until 01:02 – the last moment he was captured on camera.
[6] As reported in Time magazine, it was initially unclear whether or not the tear gas, fired near the car park where protesters and officers clashed, had played a role in Chow's fall.
[16] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said that television footage showed police had fired tear gas at the building in which Chow fell "minutes earlier".
[14][1] Security footage released by the building owner Link REIT showed that there was no police presence nor significant amounts of tear gas inside the car park in the moments before Chow fell.
A second operation, to disperse protesters who had allegedly been throwing objects at officers on the street from above,[8][6] took place at 01:05 after Chow had been found unconscious.
[19] The Hong Kong Fire Services Department said ambulance A344 from the Po Lam district received an emergency call from firefighters and was redirected at 01:11 to the second floor of the Sheung Tak car park to attend to an urgent case.
[20] The ambulance was obstructed by other vehicles including double-decker buses and private cars at the junction of Po Shun Road at Tong Ming Street.
[21] Chow remained in a critical condition with severe brain injury at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital until his death from cardiac arrest at 08:09 on 8 November 2019.
[6] Detective Senior Constable Ngai Kwun-kit, who was tasked with reviewing security footage, said that the fall might have occurred at 01:01:47 due to an abnormal change in the light around the area where Chow was found.
[31][30] Later, newly unearthed footage from a security camera installed at the Kwong Ming Court, a residential complex near the car park, showed a shadow identified as belonging to Chow as it descended.
[12] The Coroner's Court heard that protesters assembled near the Sheung Tak Estate car park and barricaded roads overnight between 3 and 4 November 2019, following online calls to gather outside a nearby hotel where a police officer was holding a wedding banquet.
[12] Senior Inspector Wong Ka-lun said he and his team were tasked with conducting a sweep inside the car park, because black-clad protesters were hurling glass bottles and traffic cones at officers.
[36] Senior Inspector Kwok Chun-hei, who led the other police team, said that they had not been informed of Chow's fall whilst dispersing protesters outside the car park.
[36] Station Sergeant Lam Wah-ping, who led the police reinforcement, said that he and about 30 colleagues went to offer emergency support to two other teams of officers during the protest in Tseung Kwan O, but had not entered the car park or any other building.
[39] Mung Wai-kit, the member of the public who found Chow at around 01:03[40] described the scene of the fall, stating that he did not see anyone chasing others, hear strange sounds, nor notice the pungent smell of tear gas.
[40] Photographs and videos by Mung showed that Chow was first tended to by two firefighters shortly after the discovery and that several first aid volunteers offered assistance about 10 minutes later.
[47][45] He said that Chow landed with the right side of his head first and that his left brain was bruised by the counter-impact force, similar to what happened with the chest and pelvic injuries.
[45] The expert witness Tse Man-li, a clinical toxicologist, concluded that Chow's death is not related to intoxication by tear gas fired by police.
[51] He was involved in mapping out the interior of the car park for stereoscopic animation in virtual reality for the court, as jury visits to the site was avoided due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[4] Bloomberg reported that "online rumors, fake news and propaganda from both sides of the political divide" were rife despite the police's role in the death of Chow being unsubstantiated.
[59] There were posts alleging that Chow had been chased and even pushed by an undercover officer, and that police blocked an ambulance from reaching him, thus depriving him of life-saving medical care.
[59] During a 6 November forum at HKUST to discuss Chow's incident, a student from the Chinese mainland was set upon by a crowd of protesters and repeatedly hit on the head.
[2] About a thousand protesters marched in the central business district chanting anti-police slogans and shouting at the police, including calling them "murderers".
[2] In several locations around Hong Kong, protesters blocked roads, lit fires, and vandalised Mass Transit Railway stations, while the police responded with tear gas.
[2] A graduation ceremony at HKUST on that day was cut short when masked students dressed in black took the stage and turned it into a memorial service for Chow.
"[64] Man-Kei Tam, the director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, called for an independent and urgent investigation into the events leading to Chow's fall, including into the allegations that the police delayed the ambulance.
"[8] In an open letter, HKUST president Wei Shyy called for a thorough and independent investigation into Chow's death, and a clarification from all parties and especially the police to the cause of the ambulance delay.
[9][71] On 25 February 2020, the Sai Kung District Council, whose responsibility covers the area where Chow died, announced a meeting on 3 March for which eight members of the council had submitted for discussion a motion to rename two resting places in the Tseung Kwan O district "Chow Tsz-lok Memorial Park" and "Chan Yin-lam Memorial Park".
[72] This motion was controversial, with some members of the public condemning the disrespect to the deceased and their families, who had not been consulted; two of the proposers reportedly received abusive messages on their social media pages.