Sunday, May 9, 2010

Another teen shooting - police say sorry ( Malaysiakini )

Yet another teenager has been shot at by the police but this time in a rare show of humility and compassion Negeri Sembilan's top cop apologised for the action of the officer concerned.
SAC1 Osman Salleh said that he has apologised to the family, and that the shooting should never have happened.
"Preliminary investigations showed that the act was not justifiable and it was an abuse of power," he said at a press conference at Seremban his afternoon.
NONE
Osman (left) added that the boy had never posed any danger to the officer.
He also said that the police officer responsible has since been suspended from his duties.

In the 3.30am incident at Seremban today, two policemen spotted about 20 Mat Rempit hanging in front of a shopping mall.

On spotting the patrol car, they scrambled away on their motorcycles, triggering a chase along Jalan Seremban-Jelebu.
It was only at the Kampung Ujong Pasir intersection when the police opened fire, 2km away from the shopping mall.
Victim in stable condition
According to The Star online, some of the youths were taunting the policemen by swerving left and right in front of the pursuing police car.

One of the policemen then opened fire, hitting 17-year-old Mohd Azizi Aziz in the hip.

"The police patrol car warned the motorcyclists to stop, but they did not heed the warning and split in various directions," Osman was reported by Bernama as saying.
"According to the policeman who fired the shot, he had done so as a warning to make Mohd Azizi stop.
"The police were only able to intercept the motorcyclist after chasing him for about two kilometers, and then found out that he was shot in the abdomen," he said.

He added that the boy is now in stable condition at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital.

Boy's father lodges police report
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said the ministry viewed seriously the incident and appropriate action would be taken against the policeman involved if he was found to be negligent.
Later, accompanied by Osman and state executive councillors Ismail Lasim and Ismail Taib, Abu Seman visited the victim at the hospital.
Mohd Azizi's father, Aziz Omar, 42, said he was sad with the incident that befell his son, the eldest of six siblings.
He said he was informed about the incident by the hospital staff at about 4.20am.
"I regret that it was the hospital who contacted me to inform about the incident and not the police," he added.
Aziz Omar claimed that his son was punched and assaulted by policemen even after he had fell off his machine from the injuries.
The father has since lodged a report at the Seremban II police headquarters, saying he will be engaging a lawyer soon.
Hit list on the rise

NONEThis is the second shooting of a teenager since the case of Aminulrasyid Amzah (right), 15, in which he was hit also when attempting to evade police arrest two weeks ago in Section 11, Shah Alam.
The police claimed that they discharged their weapons in self-defence when Aminulrasyid had allegedly tried to reverse into them. They also claimed that they found a parang in the boot of the car.

However, witnesses have disputed both claims.

NONEA special panel has since been set up to probe the police investigations into the matter, and to also review the standard operating procedure of the police when discharging firearms while on duty.

But while the issue has attracted the attention of politicians on both sides, inspector-general of police Musa Hassan (left) and Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar have been reported to be angry at the media attention.

No apology for th