A MANILA cop was arrested by police allegedly after he shot a man whose group mistook him for a Grab driver in Ermita, Manila, last Sunday.
Police Officer 2 Bernardino Cruz, 48, detailed at the Manila City Hall Action and Special Assignment and a son of a barangay chairman in Tondo, was driving a silver Toyota Innova (ABR-4661) when he was apprehended by pursuing cops at the corner of Reina Regente and Felipe Streets in Binondo, Manila, at around 5 a.m. on Sunday.
Prior to his arrest, Cruz was reportedly waiting for his colleague in front of a restaurant in Ermita when one Archie Solatorio, 26, and his friends mistook him for a Grab driver.
Cruz said he insisted to Solatorio’s group that he is not a Grab driver, but the group ganged up on him. The cop claimed he accidentally fired his gun, hitting Solatorio.
Solatorio was brought to Manila Doctors Hospital for treatment.
Police said Cruz was allegedly drunk at the time of the incident.
Manila Police District (MPD) director Senior Superintendent Vicente Danao Jr. ordered the filing of administrative charges against Cruz.
According to MPD General Assignment and Investigation Unit head Chief Inspector Henry Navarro, Cruz was charged with frustrated murder when he was assigned to MPD Station 1 in 2008. It was learned that a stray bullet from the pistol of Cruz killed an eight-year-old boy in Tondo, Manila, on Sept. 9, 2008 when he engaged a businessman in a shootout. He also wounded the businessman.
The case filed against Cruz as a result of that incident is still pending in the Supreme Court. (Erma Edera)