Police assault 'Metro TV' woman employee
Police assault 'Metro TV' woman employee
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
Four Central Jakarta Police detectives were reported to the
Jakarta Police for assaulting a private television channel crew
member, whom they wrongly identified as a suspected drug dealer.
Metro TV makeup artist Maya Indayu, 31, filed the report on
Thursday. She stated at the city police headquarters that the
incident took place at around 1 a.m. on Thursday in West Cempaka
Putih, Central Jakarta.
"I was walking toward my boarding house after work when
suddenly three men and a woman grabbed my arms and snatched my
handbag," she said. "I thought they were robbers so I screamed
for help and fought back. They forced me to get into their
minivan ... I was really scared; one of the men pointed a gun at
me."
According to Maya, the four people insisted that she was a
suspected drug dealer identified as "Dewi", who lived in the
area. Maya denied it but they did not believe her. Similarly, she
did not believe them either when they claimed to be police
detectives.
"One of them slapped my face and another burned my left arm
with a lighted cigarette," she said.
A medical report from Cipto Mangunkusumo general hospital
states that Maya sustained bruising and an injury to her left ear
that damaged her hearing.
Later, Maya spotted a patrolling police car.
"I fought really hard and managed to release myself to run
toward the uniformed police officers. I hugged one of them,
asking for help," she said.
The police took Maya to the Central Jakarta police station
where the misunderstanding was resolved and officers apologized
for the detectives' behavior.
Later in the day, a different team of narcotics detectives
managed to arrest Dewi at her boarding house near Maya's place.
Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Sukrawardi Dahlan told
the media that he regretted the incident, adding that his
subordinates had not followed proper procedures when arresting
Maya.
"They should have respected the principle of presumption of
innocence and treated their suspect properly. They should have
asked for proof of Maya's identity first," he said.
Sukrawardi promised to take his subordinates to court instead
of dealing with them via the police internal affairs department.