Cop in mauling case appeals for understanding, countersues victim

The Quezon City policeman who reportedly mauled and illegally detained a motorist at the police station he was assigned to has filed a countercharge of direct assault against the victim.

Chief Insp. Melvin Madrona, the head of the Fairview police station’s drug enforcement team until his relief, admitted to mauling the marine engineer following a road altercation on March 17.

However, he appealed to the public to understand the reason behind his actions which were caught on the police station’s closed circuit television camera.

In an interview on Tuesday, Madrona told a version which contradicted that of the victim who had filed a complaint against him in the counterintelligence task force of the Philippine National Police.

The complainant has not been named in media reports for security reasons.

In Madrona’s version of the story, it was the 24-year-old engineer who hit his car and first became verbally abusive.

“I was on my way to the Fairview police station when he hit me,” he said. “When he stepped out [of the vehicle], he yelled, ‘Are you stupid? Are you even a driver?’”

While he had yet to inform the complainant that he was a policeman, Madrona said the motorist got angry at a female bystander who was taking photos of the incident.

He claimed that the complainant assaulted the woman and tried to take her phone away. That was when he stepped in and introduced himself as a police officer, Madrona said.

But he said this fell on deaf ears and the motorist allegedly punched him in the jaw. At this point, a brawl began with the complainant running to the police station to ask for help, not knowing that Madrona was assigned there.

Footage from the CCTV camera in the lobby of the police station showed Madrona beating up the motorist before locking him in a cell.

But the policeman said it was merely for “safekeeping” and to avoid further commotion. “I lost my temper… I’m also human,” Madrona added.