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