A 20-YEAR-OLD criminology student has decided to abandon his studies after allegedly being beaten by two police officers from the Marigondon Police Station.
Eric (not his real name) told reporters that he was hurt and disheartened by what the police officers did to him following a false accusation of theft on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024.
“Way ayo mga pulis, abusadao (The police are no good because they are abusive),” he said on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
The Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) has relieved the two police officers who beat the second-year criminology student.
Eric said he has not attended school since Saturday after being beaten by the police officers in an incident that occurred at the Marigondon Police Station last Friday.
“I couldn’t accept what happened, and I haven’t been able to complete my activities,” he said in Cebuano.
In a Facebook post by a family member on Saturday, Oct. 5, Eric was accused of stealing a bicycle and a chainsaw from the household where he was working as a caretaker since the age of nine.
The two police officers, whose identities were withheld by the LCPO, reportedly brought Eric to a room on the second floor of the police station, conducted a drug test on him, which reportedly yielded positive results.
The police officers then struck his hands with an arnis stick, slapped his face several times and attempted to force him to confess involvement in the burglary.
Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan, in his Facebook post on Sunday, Oct. 6, said he had directed the LCPO to investigate the incident.
Chan personally visited the student, who was in the hospital seeking medical assistance. / CDF