Sick and tired of putting up with the abusive behavior of their policeman-neighbor every time he got drunk, a group of residents in Galas, Quezon City stood up to him and called in the authorities, leading to his arrest Saturday night.
Senior Police Officer 2 Resty Toquero, 40, a member of the Camp Crame-based Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police, has since been charged with grave threat, child abuse and indiscriminate firing.
In addition, a case of direct assault was filed against him
after he attacked the lawman who arrested him.
A witness told investigators of the Quezon City Police District Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU) that Toquero had a habit of “terrorizing” his neighbors with his service firearm whenever he was drunk.
“We have had enough. We did not want to wait for him to make good on his threat to kill someone,” the 23-year-old witness told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Case investigator Police Officer 1 Romeo Niño II said that among the complainants was a 14-year-old boy who claimed that several hours before the policeman’s arrest at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Toquero shouted insults at him and threatened to shoot him should they ever cross paths again.
According to the teenager, he had gone out on an errand at
8 p.m. when Toquero, who was obviously drunk, blocked his path and asked him where he was going. The policeman then started shouting insults at him, driving him away and telling him never to return or he would shoot him.
Two hours later, 23-year-old tricycle driver Jamie Santos was about to buy cigarettes from a retail store in the neighborhood where Toquero and several other men were engaged in a drinking spree when the drunken policeman warned him against going near the store.
To emphasize that he was serious, Toquero took out his gun and aimed it at the tricycle driver, Santos said.
At this point, several residents who have had it with the policeman’s behavior started gathering near the store, causing a visibly uncomfortable
Toquero to escape into an alley. The group, however, followed him as a neighbor called for help from the Galas police station.
When Toquero was cornered by his neighbors on Batong Buhay Street, the panicky policeman fired a warning shot in the air, causing them to scatter. Toquero was about to flee when members of the Galas police station caught him on Primera de Mayo Street.
Niño said that PO1 Randy Policarpio was accosting Toquero when the older policeman deliberately butted heads with him in an attempt to prevent his arrest. As a result, Policarpio and two other policemen had to subdue Toquero and handcuff him.
They also took from him his 9 mm service firearm before he was turned over to the custody of the QCPD-CIDU.
Toquero remains detained at the QCPD-CIDU holding cell pending the filing of charges against him in the city prosecutor’s office.