Yao Wei Wu has sued the VPD for the beating he suffered at the hands of two officers. (CBC)

B.C.'s police complaint commissioner is appealing a court ruling that has blocked a public inquiry into the police beating of a Vancouver man.

Yao Wei Wu was roughed up in January 2010 by Vancouver police officers responding to a call about a violent family argument — but Wu, who suffered facial injuries in the incident, was the wrong man.

The Vancouver Police Department later apologized, and the two officers were cleared of wrongdoing in an investigation conducted by the Delta Police Department.

But Police Complaint Commissioner Stan Lowe said there were flaws in that investigation and called for a public inquiry.

However, the B.C. Supreme Court rejected the push for an inquiry, saying the commissioner’s office was overstepping its bounds, but the office is now appealing that ruling.

"A public hearing is really just a search for the truth,” said deputy commissioner Rollie Woods. “There were shortcomings in the [police] investigation that were so serious that the commissioner felt the only way to address this properly was through a public hearing."

Wu has filed a lawsuit against the VPD.