Cop insists he arrested, not assaulted, female Grab driver

MANILA, Philippines — A Pateros police officer yesterday maintained that he only arrested a female Grab driver, contrary to her claim that he assaulted her.

Capt. Ronald Saquilayan, who heads the municipal police’s investigation unit, said he arrested Mary Florence Norial after she allegedly hit him on the head outside a coffee shop in Barangay Ususan, Taguig on Wednesday.

Norial was arrested after she asked Saquilayan to move his vehicle, which was supposedly blocking the exit driveway of the coffee shop. She said in a Facebook post that Saquilayan hit her with his car door.

According to Norial, Saquilayan claimed he occupied the coffee shop’s waiting area, not the driveway, and he was waiting for his daughter to complete her purchase. He got out of his vehicle when the argument became heated.

Saquilayan claimed he was about to help Norial, who fell after repeatedly pushing against the driver’s seat door of his pickup truck to prevent him from entering his vehicle, but she slapped him.

“That was the time I arrested her… not assaulted, but arrested her,” he told reporters in a press conference yesterday.

“During the time I arrested her, I introduced myself as a policeman and told her her rights,” he added.

He admitted to pinning Norial against the glass wall of the coffee shop and bringing her into the shop after arresting her.

“I was holding her hand and I pinned her to the wall because she was kicking me,” Saquilayan said, adding that he asked the coffee shop’s guard to call the local police.

He also said Norial “had all the time to call her lawyer” as she was holding her cell phone, which she used to record her conflict with him.

Norial’s sister, Aubrey Mando, who accompanied her to the Taguig police headquarter, belied Saquilayan’s statement.

“He did not introduce himself as a police officer when he arrested my sister,” she told TV5’s “Idol in Action” yesterday.

She also said Saquilayan asked his daughter to “get the handcuffs” from his car.

Norial is facing complaints of alarm and scandal, direct assault and police disobedience before the Taguig City prosecutor’s office.

Norial remains detained at the city police headquarters and police said the case may be processed next week since the prosecutor’s office does not have enough personnel.

Southern Police District director Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Peralta said they will investigate whether police officers who responded to Saquilayan’s complaint committed any offense against Norial.