Cop shoots at Quezon City dad's car

The vehicle of a Quezon City councilor was shot at by a policeman at past midnight yesterday.

Councilor Ariel Inton’s blue Toyota Revo (SGY-250) had a bullet hole in its rear windshield from a .9mm handgun used by Police Officer 1 Jonathan Yasay.

“We even recovered the slug inside the vehicle,” said Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, Jr., commander of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Station 3.

Inton, however, was not in the vehicle when the incident happened, Pedrozo said.

According to Pedrozo, the incident happened at around 12:20 a.m. along Sunville Road in Sunville Subdivision, Barangay Culiat as Inton’s driver had dropped him off at a wake in the area.

Pedrozo said Inton’s driver Genaro Martinez claimed the incident stemmed from a traffic altercation, during which the Revo he was driving and Yasay’s scooter collided with each other.

Martinez said Yasay shot at him but hit the vehicle he was driving.

But according to the account of the policeman, who is assigned at the QCPD Headquarters at Camp Karingal, he was responding to a brawl in the area when the incident happened, Pedrozo said.

Yasay even filed a direct assault complaint against a certain Glen Barlaan, who allegedly threw stones at him as he responded to the brawl.

To pacify the warring groups of men, Barlaan said he fired a warning shot but the bullet from his gun hit the vehicle driven by Martinez as it passed by.

Both camps filed complaints before the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit. However, after explaining their sides, both parties agreed it was a misunderstanding and settled amicably.

Yasay, meanwhile, promised to shoulder the expenses for the repair of the damaged portion of Inton’s vehicle.

Inton said he reprimanded Yasay, who he said appeared to be under the influence of liquor, and reminded the policeman to be careful when firing his gun.

According to Inton, who is also a lawyer, he helped the policeman in a case the latter was involved in years ago when he was not yet a public official.