Cop lands in ICU after being pushed off patrol car by drug suspect

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—A police officer remains in a critical condition after being pushed off a police patrol car by a drug suspect arrested in a buy-bust operation in Cavite.

Sr. Police Officer 1 Roberto Lacasa, who was assigned in the Amadeo town police in Cavite, sustained skull fracture and suffered from internal bleeding after an arrested drug suspect pushed him out of a moving police car.

Supt. Chitadel Gaoiran, police information officer in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (Calabarzon) on Saturday said Lacasa remained at the intensive care unit in MV Santiago Hospital in Trece Martires City, Cavite.

Lacasa went undercover in a buy-bust operation which targeted suspect Alan Domaniel, 40, on Aug. 10. Domaniel, a native of Negros Occidental, was identified by the police as a drug pusher in the town.

According to Cavite police information officer Supt. Janet Arinabo, the police were about to arrest Domaniel after he sold seven sachets of suspected “shabu” to Lacasa when the suspect pulled out his gun and tried to shoot the policeman. Domaniel, who was then “high” on illegal drugs, missed but the police shot him in the abdomen to incapacitate him.

Arinabo said the police arrested Domaniel and were on their way to a hospital when the suspect suddenly grabbed Lacasa’s gun.

As Lacasa and Domaniel grappled for the weapon, the suspect pushed the policeman off the moving patrol car. Lacasa hit his head on the road.

This forced the other policemen on the vehicle to shoot Domaniel, Arinabo said. Domaniel died while on the way to the hospital.

Police recovered a .38-cal. gun and P300 from the slain suspect.