The New York Police Department has aroused heated debate after an old man, originally from China, was beaten by police officers for jaywalking on a street corner of New York City on Sunday.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton on Monday defended his officers and insisted that there was no excessive force used.

According to a Daily Caller report, the 84-year-old named Kang Chun Wong committed jaywalking at an Upper West Side intersection on Sunday afternoon.

A police officer came to him and tried to write him a ticket, but Wong, who doesn't speak English, didn't understand what the officer wanted and continued walking away. The police officer then tried to grab Wong, who pushed the officer away.

This prompted the fury of several cops on the scene, who descended on Wong and threw him against a wall.

According to local media, Wong came away from the encounter with a bloodied face and was brought to the police station after having four staples in hospital to close a head wound.

"Oh, great! Beating up on an 84-year-old man for jaywalking," Wong's son, who refused to give his name, said angrily in a statement after he met his father at the station, according to local media reports.

The son said that his father was originally from China and speaks Cantonese and Spanish, but "not a dime of English."

The Daily Caller reported that Wong has already been released, but will face charges of jaywalking, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct.

Wong's encounter attracted wide attention from many Net users from both the US and China.

"What the police should be doing is giving out flyers to inform pedestrians instead of writing tickets to generate  revenue," an American Web user named Poetic Justice commented on the website of Daily News.

"Though Wong's behavior might partly be counted as resisting arrest, it is still excessive for the police to use such forces. In addition, the situation that Wong doesn't speak English should also be taken into the consideration by the police," a twitter user posted.

However, a Net user named Deb argued that a jaywalker hit by a car would affect many people, which is "much bigger than the idiot pedestrian who thinks they're above the law."

Given the Chinese background of Wong and the serious jaywalking problem seen in many Chinese cities, the incident generated heated discussion in China.

A survey by the Chinese website Sina showed that 31.3 percent of nearly 30,000 respondents sided with the police as the man has broken the traffic rules while 25.9 percent saw overreaction from the police, considering Wong didn't understand English.

Global Times