Officers to face prosecution over unlawful shooting

JAKARTA (JP): City Police internal affairs is scheduled to shortly question a number of middle-ranking officers of the West Jakarta Police following the wrongful fatal shooting of a man on Jl. Raya Semanan in Kalideres early on Wednesday morning.

"All the officers who were directly and indirectly involved in the shooting will be questioned. If proven wrong, they will pay for it accordingly. Otherwise, we will support them, however bad things may get for them," City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman told reporters on Friday at City Police headquarters.

"It goes without saying that all police detectives have the right to shoot if they sense that their lives are in danger or if a suspect tries to escape."

City Police detectives chief for general crimes, Adj. Sr. Comr. Tito Karnavian, said that among the officers to be questioned were West Jakarta Police detective chief for violent crimes First. Insp. Hendri Fiuser and West Jakarta Police chief of detectives Comr. Syahardianto.

"Police are questioning First. Brig. Pambudi, who pulled the trigger. He is an officer of the West Jakarta Police SWAT team. His immediate boss is Hendri," Tito told reporters.

Police identified the man who was shot to death as Yudianto, 31, an employee of PT BASF and a father of an eight-month-old infant.

Ironically, the police were not the only ones searching for robbers before sunrise on Wednesday morning.

Yudianto was out on the street at that hour on Wednesday because he was awakened by sounds made by four men, who were robbing his house on Jl. H. Selong in Cengkareng, taking among other things his television set, a source at West Jakarta Police said.

As the robbers sped off in two Kijang vans, Yudianto chased after them but failed to catch up. Yudianto woke up his neighbor, Marwan, and with a machete in his hand, the two followed the robbers on a motorcycle, and ended up on Jl. Raya Semanan in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

Yudianto and Marwan saw two Toyota Kijang vans parked on Jl. Raya Semanan.

"As he walked towards one of the vans, a man invited Yudianto to enter it. Yudianto saw something inside the van, probably his television set, and he became very angry," the source said.

"Yudianto started screaming 'Thief! Thief!,' and waved his machete madly. At that moment he was shot in his forehead. Marwan, who was scared, fled the scene."

That morning, Hendri Fiuser and his SWAT team were searching for bank robbers, particularly one named Robi alias Yudi, 26, the source said.

"They already had one suspect in their custody, Anshari, who told officers that he would recognize the appearance of the bank robbers, and that he knew Yudi. Anshari led police to Jl. Semanan saying that this was the place where the criminals usually hung out after a robbery," the source said.

"It was very dark and when the police spotted the two vans, Anshari pointed out Yudianto to the police. He reportedly attacked an officer when the police tried to arrest him."

Yudianto reportedly died at the Kramat Jati Hospital in East Jakarta with bruises covering his entire body.

Tito said, Yudianto's wife, Yustiana, 21, had filed a police complaint against West Jakarta Police.

Another source, however, said it was not Pambudi who pulled the trigger, but his superior, Hendri.

According to West Jakarta Police records, Yudi alias Robi is 159 centimeters tall and has ivory skin. The record in Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital states Yudianto to be dark-skinned and of 175 centimeters in height. (ylt)