Hong Kong Rush Hour hustler jailed

Jacke Chan stars in Rush Hour 2

HONG KONG, China -- A Hong Kong man has been jailed for trying to extort money from the makers of the hit Jacky Chan martial arts comedy Rush Hour 2, a report said Friday.

According to the English language South China Morning Post, Lee King-man was arrested after trying to gain compensation for what he said was lost earnings to his car parking "business".

Defending lawyer Cheng Huan said his client had been self employed as a car parking attendant for the past 10 years, making more than $5,000 a month parking drivers' cars for them at meters.

However, that trade was disrupted when the Rush Hour production crew moved into his street in Hong Kong's busy Causeway Bay commercial district, closing off public access whilst filming was underway.

As a result, Cheng said, his client decided to seek compensation of $2,300 for three days lost earnings -- a figure that was eventually reduced, after some haggling, to just over $1,000.

'No threat'

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Cheng said it was normal practice for film producers to compensate local restaurants and shops for lost business due to road closures.

Lee's claim, he told the court, had not been accompanied by threats or any suggestion of involvement by Triad gang members.

However, the police thought otherwise and the cash was delivered to Lee by an undercover policeman who immediately arrested him on charges of blackmail and theft.

The former charge was dropped by prosecutors, but Judge Colin Mackintosh decided that Lee had been guilty of seeking to extort money.

He said that while there was no direct evidence of menace, the fact that Lee had said on receipt of the cash that the production crew could call him "in case of any trouble" inferred it was protection money.