Officer to be tried over wrongful shooting

Officer to be tried over wrongful shooting

JAKARTA (JP): A court-martial is awaiting a police officer who
wrongfully shot an innocent man to death on Jl. Raya Semanan in
Kalideres, West Jakarta, last Wednesday.

City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bahrul Alam said on
Wednesday that internal affairs investigating the shooting had
concluded that Brig. Pambudi, an officer of the West Jakarta
Police SWAT team, had wrongfully shot Cengkareng resident
Yudianto, 31, in the back of the head.

"Yudianto was not the bank robber that West Jakarta Police was
looking for. As a City Police spokesman, I convey my sincere
apologies and condolences to Yudianto's family," Anton told
reporters at City Police headquarters on Wednesday.

"All necessary action will be taken towards Brig. Pambudi, and
Brig. Taufik, the second officer who is being questioned over the
case. Taufik was present at the crime scene as well."

Anton's statement however left many alarming questions
unanswered over what really happened at 4 a.m. on Feb. 28, and
why Yudianto was gunned down.

Anton failed to answer why Yudianto was shot in the head,
instead of the leg, as police procedures dictate, and why his
body was badly bruised and beaten at the time of his death, as
witnesses saw that prior to Yudianto's body being driven to the
National Police's Kramat Jati Hospital following the shooting,
there were no bruises on his body.

The spokesman identified the arrested and suspected bank
robber as Ashari, 32, who allegedly pointed out Yudianto as one
of his robber mates, to the police, which ultimately led to the
shooting.

In the dossiers, Ashari said he saw Pambudi shot Yudianto
twice from close range, even though the latter never once laid a
hand at the officer.

Ashari admitted to have robbed a bank customer on Feb. 15 on
Jl. Raya Ciputat in South Jakarta of Rp 74 million along with his
five friends before West Jakarta Police detectives arrested him
at his rented residence on Jl. Abdul Wahab in Cengkareng, West
Jakarta, at 1 a.m. on Feb. 28.

That day, Ashari said, six detectives put him into a blue
Toyota Kijang van and asked him to show them the residences of
his five other bank robber friends, including Robby's, who were
their next target. (ylt)