Drunk policeman shoots watchman

JAKARTA (JP): A police officer shot to death a security guard in a discotheque in North Jakarta early yesterday morning. Reportedly, both men were heavily intoxicated at the time.

The officer, identified as Sgt. Popang, was a member of the West Jakarta police precinct and was arrested by the military police, according to Lt. Col. Latief Rabar, a spokesman for City Police.

Latief said the sergeant was in police custody and undergoing intensive examination.

It was reported that the sergeant had gone on a drinking spree with the security guard Ali Nurdin alias Cholik, 34, at 1 a.m. at the "Top Hit" discotheque, located on the third story of the three-story Robinson store building in Penjaringan, West Jakarta.

Cholik, who lived on Jl. Jembatan Gambang, Penjaringan, was a security guard of the department store.

Eyewitnesses say that the sergeant and the guard, both out of uniform, went out for some air sometime in the course of their drinking.

As the sergeant was lying on a bench on the front yard, Cholik joked with him, patting him on his cheek.

Cholik kept on joking despite strong protests from the infuriated sergeant, who at last threatened to shoot him if he continued.

The two men then entered into an altercation, but people at the bar calmed them down and told Cholik to leave.

Cholik left but returned a few minutes later.

The sergeant, still infuriated, drew his revolver and shot Cholik once in the head as he approached him.

Cholik died on the way to the nearby hospital while an angry crowd, who were believed to be Cholik's friends, beat up the sergeant soon after the incident.

After the beating, the military police were informed of the incident. They arrived on the scene soon afterward and arrested the sergeant, confiscating his firearm. (jsk)