Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Police general hurt in street fight
CAMP OLIVAS -- A ranking police official was injured after he tried to pacify a group of quarrelling drunk and unruly people along Fields Avenue in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City over the weekend.
A police report identified the wounded police official as Chief Superintendent Jimmy Restua, director of the PNP Security Agencies and Guards Supervision Division (Sags-D) based at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Angeles Police Station 4 Chief Narvin Mangune said they arrested some people involved in the street fight whom he named as Francis Anthony Santiago Baquing, Jovian Rico de la Pena, Jonathan Rico Tejero, Ronald Bernardo Genara, and Nerie Cutillar Genara, all of Barangay Balibago, Angeles.
Restua was allegedly hit by a fist blow in the right arm by one of the suspects.
In a phone interview, Restua said he rushed to the aid of policeman Christopher Lalic and a civilian employee when he noticed a group of drunk rushing towards the duo despite a warning shot.
Restua said he acted just like any other police officer who responds to a crime. He described the group as known troublemakers and has been the object of complaints by owners of business establishments in the area.
Mangune said Lalic and Raul Capanas, a non-uniformed PNP employee, were dispatched in the area after they received a call from businessmen about men, armed with knives and wooden clubs, were challenging anyone on sight to a fight.
When the suspects saw the approaching policemen, Mangune said they turned on them. He said Lalic pulled his service handgun and fired a warning shot but the suspects ignored it.
Restua, who was then supervising his men in conducting an inspection on private security guards, noticed the commotion and rushed to the aid of the duo. The group attacked the two despite introducing themselves as police officers.
Police said criminal charges, including alarm and scandal and assault of an agent or a person in authority and resisting arrest, have been filed in court against the suspects who are detained at the Angeles City Jail. (MHD)
