Police files
‘COPS DIDN’T FIRE GUNS’
THE chief of police in barangay Talamban, Cebu City and his three men were cleared in the investigation relating to the death of a robbery suspect last June 21.
Based on the ballistic examination conducted by the PNP Crime Laboratory, Chief Insp. Angelo Beltran, SPO4 Abundio Cabahug, SPO2 Valentino Guevara and PO2 Neal Lavezares didn’t fire their guns when Faustino Navarro Jr. was killed after the grenade that he was about to lob at the chasing policeman exploded in his hand.
Chief Insp. Bonifacio Garciano, chief of Investigation and Detective Management Branch, said the policemen’s firearms tested negative for powder burns in the ballistic examination.
The policemen submitted their guns for examination after the report of Dr. Nestor Satur, chief medico-legal officer of the Regional Crime Laboratory, showed that a gunshot wound may have killed Navarro and not the grenade explosion because no vital organs were damaged.
Satur also theorized that the suspect could have shot himself, considering the entry of the gunshot wound in Navarro’s right portion of the head.
The same examination revealed that the .9mm pistol recovered from Navarro had been fired.
Garciano said the finding was based on the presence of gun powder residue in the firearm’s nozzle.
During the incident, members of the Talamban police responded to an armed person alarm in sitio Tigbao.
Navarro was one of four men who were chased by police. When cornered, Navarro tried to throw a grenade at the policemen but the grenade exploded as he was about to throw it, said police. /CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON
DRIVER DIES IN BIKE-BUS COLLISION
A 42-YEAR-OLD habal-habal driver died when the motorcycle he drove collided with a passenger bus in barangay Binabag, Bogo City, northern Cebu.
Police said the accident happened in a curved portion of the road in sitio San Antonio around 3 p.m. last Tuesday.
An ambulance rushed Vinancio Bagol to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center but the man died along the way.
The driver of the Ceres bus, Justiniano Maunes, 38, surrendered to the police after the accident. Reckless imprudence resulting to homicide charges will be filed against him, said police.
PO3 George Ocena of the Bogo City police said it was possible that the motorcycle was running in high speed when the collision occurred.
Bagol came from a barangay road and turned left when the motorcycle collided with the bus.
Maunes said he tried to step on the brake to no avail.
Bagol, who had no helmet on during the accident, sustained head injuries. /REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL
MAN HURT AFTER TOUCHING LIVE WIRE
A 58-YEAR-OLD man sustained burns in the different parts of the body when he accidentally touched a live wire in barangay Daligdig Sur, Medellin town, northern Cebu.
Vitaliano Rosales was asked by his older sister to patch the holes in the roof of her house past noon last Tuesday.
Rosales climbed the roof barefoot. While on top of the roof, the man slipped and accidentally touched a live wire as he lost his balance.
The live wire owned by Cebu Electric Co. (Cebeco)-II was about one meter from the roof.
Neighbors rushed Rosales to the Verallo District Hospital in Bogo City.
Nestor Apalam, a lineman of Cebeco, told police that the company will extend financial assistance to Rosales. /REPORTER RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL
