Trigger-happy officer suspended

Trigger-happy officer suspended

JAKARTA: Following the detention of the Tanah Abang Police
deputy chief, Adj. Comr. Paidi, for his shooting of a
motorcyclist, the Jakarta Police announced on Monday that the
officer had been suspended.

"After a number of hours of questioning the suspect and
several witnesses, we concluded that he had violated police
procedures in firing the warning shots. We believe he fired into
the crowd instead of the air," city police internal affairs chief
Sr. Comr. Irawan Dahlan said.

Dahlan added that after completing the questioning, internal
affairs had sent Paidi to the city police's general crimes
directorate to question him as a civilian.

"The police will charge him with causing serious injury to
another person," he said.

Paidi and a number of other officers had tried to disperse a
crowd in the early hours of Sunday morning during an illegal race
between motorcycle clubs on Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur, Central
Jakarta.

To disperse the crowd, it is alleged that Paidi fired his
pistol into the crowd, as a result of which Juhardi was hit by
two bullets in the left leg. Juhardi was sent to the Mintohardjo
Navy Hospital and is currently recovering. -- JP