Grab driver released a week after altercation
MANILA, Philippines — Florence Norial, the Grab driver involved in an altercation with a police captain on Tuesday, October 6, was finally released from detention Tuesday afternoon as confirmed by her boyfriend Mirzah Shahzad in an online exchange with Philstar.com.
"Yes, she was able to leave earlier at around 1 p.m.," he said in Filipino, adding that the two were considering filing a case against the erring cops.
That Tuesday night, Norial and Shahzad in separate accounts on social media wrote that Police Capt. Ronald Saquilayan, who was out of uniform at the time, hit the former with a car door and later arrested her after she retaliated.
A video posted by Norial also showed that she was not read her Miranda rights before her supposed warrantless arrest. The police officer later blocked the doorway at a Starbucks branch, barring Norial from leaving.
According to Shahzad and corroborated by court documents, Norial was released after posting a bail of P3,000 for an unjust vexation case filed by Saquilayan, though Police Col. Celso Rodriguez is quoted in an Inquirer.net story as saying that Norial posted P1,800 bail.
READ: CHR to look into alleged warrantless arrest, maltreatment of Grab driver in Taguig
In a Facebook post, Shahzad wrote: "Nailabas na po namin siya after almost seven days. Pumayat siya lalo pero we will do our best na ibalik ang sigla niya. Di ko na po kayo maiisa-isa pasalamatan pero thank you po."
(We were able to get her out after almost seven days. She got thinner, but we will do our best to get her healthy again. I can't thank you all one by one, but thank you.)
This comes after both police reports and leadership issued statements pinning the blame on Norial for the incident, alleging that she assaulted Saquilayan unprovoked.
"We remind law enforcement agents to uphold their own standard protocols in conducting arrest and to be mindful of the legally allowable force to control someone who physically assaults an officer," the Commission on Human Rights said then, adding that it would be launching an investigation into the incident.
Court documents acquired by Philstar.com showed that Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Grace Tang-Togado recommended that Norial be indicted for unjust vexation but dismissed Saquilayan's claims of resistance and disobedience to a person in authority, alarm and scandal and direct assault after finding no probable cause for these.
"While respondent later learned that complainant is a police officer, an agent of a person in authority, as aforesaid, complainant was not in the exercise of his duties at that time," the copy by Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 115 in Taguig City reads.
SPD: 'Driver at fault, maligned police on social media'
Documents also add that Saquilayan alleged in his sworn statement that Norial "fell," and "when he tried to help her, she hit him on his head."
In a press release issued Friday, Police Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Peralta, director of the Southern Police District, claimed that CCTV footage contradicted what he said were the "crooked claims" of Norial.
"[S]he was the one assaulted by the cop, but the truth was that she rudely showed her undisciplined personality, disobedience to policy of 1st come 1st serve of the commercial establishment like Starbucks coffee shop and utmost disrespect to authorities even after Saquilayan has introduced himself as a police officer," Peralta wrote.
"Worse, she maliciously used the social media by posting her own footage while narrating different storylines to malign the cop Saquilayan and the whole Substation 4 personnel," he added.
The same CCTV footage attached to his post, though, clearly shows that Saquilayan struck Norial first, prompting the latter to strike back in retaliation and self-defense.
According to Shahzan, only then did he disclose that he was an officer of the law, at which point he decided to arrest her.
Many on social media have slammed the incident as a case of abuse of power on the part of the police.
Philstar.com reached out to the Commission on Human Rights for comment, though it has not responded as of this post.
"If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone," Shahzad also wrote in his post in Filipino.
"In case we can win the cases against them, if something bad happens to us...you already know who is behind it. Let's be realistic, we can come back anytime they want even now or after settling this event. We can only pray for our safety right now."
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