Rookie cop hacked by drunken man

CEBU - A Field Training Program policeman who responded to an alarm was hacked and wounded by a drunken man last Thursday evening in sitio Upper Agsungot, barangay Agsungot, Cebu City.

Police trainee PO1 Daryl Velasco sustained hack wounds to his face, neck and shoulders from the suspect identified as taxi driver Noel Ermac, alias “Weng-weng”, 26, a resident of the said place.

Earlier, barangay tanod Noel Limpag responded to reports that Ermac was drunk and running amok at the wake of his father. When the suspect proved too much to handle and stabbed Limpag in the right side of his torso the tanods called the police.

Velasco, accompanied by PO3 Jumar Viscara and PO1 Eric Deamante, went to the area where they saw the suspect urinating along the roadside and then run towards his house.

The suspect emerged armed with a 21-inch bolo and was still able to attack the victim before Deamante shot him in the head with an M16 rifle, killing him instantly. 

Velasco was rushed to the North General Hospital and later transferred to the Chong Hua Hospital.

Cebu City Police Office deputy director for operations Paul Labra II said the incident was a legitimate police operation and the government will shoulder all of Velasco’s medical expenses.

Labra also advised all the new police officers to be cautious when in the field. — Christopher Gabriel Bonjoc/BRP (THE FREEMAN)