Saying he was the victim, the son of basketball legend and former Sen. Robert Jaworski on Wednesday sued the police operatives who shot him during a botched entrapment operation in Makati City last Saturday.
In the preliminary investigation held at the office of Makati Senior Assistant Prosecutor Gaudencio Tolledo Jr., Ryan Robert Jaworski filed a countercharge of frustrated murder against agents of the National Capital Region Police Office’s (NCRPO) Regional Police Intelligence Operation Unit (RPIOU).
Through his lawyers, the 40-year-old Jaworski also asked the prosecutor to dismiss the cases of illegal possession of firearms, attempted murder and direct assault lodged against him by the police for “utter lack of merit.”
Jaworski remains confined at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) where he sought treatment for a gunshot wound on the thigh after he and his two accomplices reportedly shot it out with RPIOU operatives at 1 a.m. on Saturday.
According to the NCRPO, the group was involved in gunrunning activities, prompting them to set up an entrapment operation. Both parties had agreed to meet at the corner of Chino Roces Avenue and Arnaiz Avenue in Makati City but Jaworski and his companions, sensing that it was a trap, fired upon the agents who retaliated, the police said.
The group fled but a tip led authorities to the MMC where they found Jaworski and one of his accomplices, Joselito Au. Their third companion, Ferdinand Parago, escaped. Found in their vehicle were a Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun and various types of ammunition.
At the preliminary investigation, Jaworski’s lawyer Terence Dawang said that their client was in fact the victim since the police “resorted to violence during an illegitimate operation.”
He also disputed the RPIOU’s claim that Jaworski fired at them first, saying a paraffin test conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation on his client came up negative.
In his motion, Jaworski stressed that the shotgun seized from him was licensed and a type of firearm civilians were allowed to own.
“The sale of a licensed firearm is not illegal under the law,” he said, referring to the police operation as “flawed, without basis and illegal.”
As for the direct assault and attempted murder charges, Jaworski said that he and his companions were not aware at that time that the persons inside the vehicles shooting at them were police officers.
“[Jaworski’s fright] was intensified when those who blocked him started shooting. Thus, his first instinct was to get out of the situation as soon as possible,” noting that the injuries caused on some RPIOU members were “not intentional,” his motion read.