QC cop faces ax for indiscriminate firing

A Quezon City policeman is facing dismissal from the service after he fired at a group of teenagers who allegedly attacked his relatives on New Year’s Day, hitting and seriously wounding a motorcycle rider who just happened to be passing by the area.

PO3 Arnold Sagun, 37, who is assigned at the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Kamuning station, has been placed on preventive suspension and turned over to the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) for allegedly shooting Alex Romarico Chiong Jr., a resident of Towerville Homes, Interville-II Subdivision in Barangay (village) Culiat, Tandang Sora.

Chiong was riding his motorcycle home after watching a fireworks display when he was hit in the chest by a bullet which exited through his back. He remains confined at Metro North Medical Center and Hospital on Mindanao Avenue.

An irate QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano said that Sagun would be slapped with the “full force” of administrative sanctions for his summary dismissal from the service. This is apart from a criminal charge he is facing for seriously wounding an innocent bystander.

Albano pointed out that there was no justification for Sagun to fire his gun particularly as it was not done in the line of duty. In addition, the persons he was shooting at were apparently unarmed. “That is a gross violation of our rules and regulations,” he said.

All Metro Manila policemen had the muzzles of their guns taped shut even before the New Year to prevent incidents of indiscriminate firing during the revelry.

Background check

“We are in the process of conducting a background check on him for other administrative or criminal cases that may have been filed against him,” Albano told the Inquirer.

Based on  a report from the QCPD-CIDU, the shooting happened at 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 after a group of teenagers figured in a brawl with three of Sagun’s relatives near the policeman’s home on Canada Drive in Sanville Subdivision, Barangay Culiat.

When Sagun saw his relatives being mauled, he got his firearm and pursued the fleeing boys.  When the chase reached the gate of the Towerville Homes inside Interville-II Subdivision, Sagun started shooting at the teenagers, hitting Chiong who was passing by the area on his motorcycle.

The policeman was arrested by colleagues from the QCPD Talipapa station and turned over to the custody of the QCPD-CIDU. He was charged with frustrated murder in the city prosecutor’s office, but during the inquest conducted by Assistant City Prosecutor Don Ace Mariano Alagar, the case was recommended for further investigation.

Alagar’s resolution is still up for review by the chief inquest prosecutor.