A Marikina City police officer has been sacked for allegedly beating up an 8-year-old boy in Pasig City on Sunday night, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced today.
PNP-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar told news program New Day that Staff Sergeant Nicolas Lapie Jr. has been charged for violating Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. Lapie will also face administrative charges from the PNP for what he allegedly did.
According to an investigation, the victim was watching a basketball game in the village of Bambang when Lapie allegedly approached him, grabbed him by the neck, and beat him up, reported the Philippine Star.
Eleazar told Manila Bulletin that based on the report he received, the child tried to get away from Lapie, but the cop allegedly held the victim’s arm and continued to assault him. The violence only stopped when several bystanders went to the boy’s aid. This was allegedly captured in a video.
“This is something that should not be tolerated. The victim is a boy, how can the child fight him (Lapie)?” Eleazar said.
However, Pasig City Police’s Lieutenant Marie Bala, the cop in charge of Lapie’s case, told Coconuts Manila today that the suspect denied beating the boy up and said that he just put his arms around him because he thought the child was cute. Bala said that the boy did not have any bruises or cuts when he arrived at the station.
Lapie is currently detained at the Pasig City Police. He has already gone through inquest proceedings and is waiting for the resolution of the case, according to Bala.
Eleazar said that Lapie will undergo a “value formation seminar,” a course that teaches cops how to properly engage or treat members of the public. He told the public not to hesitate reporting cops’ wrongdoings but also said evidence must be presented to corroborate their complaints.
Apart from Lapie, Eleazar also recently dismissed Senior Master Sargeant Arnulfo Ardales, a San Juan cop who was captured in a viral video throwing invectives at and threatening to arrest a call center agent. Ardales went ballistic because the agent supposedly tried to get ahead in a line of an eatery where the cop was buying food.
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