MANILA, Philippines — A man who turned out to be a police officer wearing civilian clothes went viral on Tuesday after a motorist took a video of him pointing his gun at a truck driver while instructing him to alight his vehicle along North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) in Valenzuela City.
In a video that made rounds on social media, the police officer was seen asking the driver to lie face down on the road before securing both of the latter’s hands behind his back.
Asked about this clip, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major General Jose Melencio Nartatez explained that the officer, whom he revealed is assigned to the Philippine National Police Civil Security Group—was conducting a “valid” arrest last September 30.
“By the mere na tinutukan mo or pinosasan mo it should be arrested, yung pag-arrest na ’yon valid,” Nartatez said in an ambush interview in Camp Karingal, Quezon City also on Tuesday. (The mere fact that he pointed a gun at him and cuffed his hands, means that it is an arrest. And that arrest is valid.)
“I’m conducting an inquiry about what really happened to that incident. It [happened] yesterday in Valenzuela,” he added.
Only a portion of the altercation between the officer and the driver was captured in the video, but according to Nartatez, the latter’s truck reportedly hit the side of the former’s vehicle.
The video already garnered over 8 million views on Facebook.