Woman in QC jail grazed by bullet from cop cleaning gun

A woman detained in Camp Karingal, the headquarters of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), was hospitalized Friday night after being grazed in the head by a bullet that was later traced to a policeman who was cleaning his M-16 rifle at a nearby building.

It was just an “accident,” according to the officer being held responsible for what happened to Mary Grace Lasin, 41, at the female dormitory of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.

The investigation showed that Lasin was applying makeup and facing the building occupied by the QCPD’s Public Safety Battalion (PSB) when she was grazed by a bullet in her right temple around 7:45 p.m.

The bullet apparently came from PO1 Ericson Eslao of the Special Reaction Unit, who was then cleaning his M-16 rifle on the second floor of the PSB barracks, according to a report to the QCPD director, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar.

Lasin was brought to Quirino Memorial Medical Center for treatment. “Thank God, she suffered only a minor injury,” Eleazar said.

In an interview on Saturday, Eslao said he immediately surrendered to his superior upon learning what happened to Lasin.

“I have been in the service for five years and this is the first time it happened. I was following safety precautions. I thought I had already ejected the chamber load when I accidentally pulled the trigger,” he said.

Despite his explanation and apology, however, Eslao is facing an administrative case and a criminal complaint for reckless imprudence resulting in slight physical injury, said SPO1 Marvin Masangkay, the officer on the case.