• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
A hot pursuit operation conducted by the police on Wednesday at Barangay Milagrosa, Santa Catalina, Negros Oriental, resulted in one of the responding officers being stabbed at the right eye by the subject of the operation.
According to the police investigation, the 35-year-old suspect had stabbed a 58-year-old female after the victim allegedly refused to sell him liquor and asked the former to go home.
The suspect threatened that he would destroy the victim’s store and then grabbed the victim by her hands and stabbed her 7 times. The victim was brought to ACE Hospital in Bayawan City.
Upon responding to the crime scene, the suspect was allegedly hiding inside his house as the police conducted a hot pursuit operation to apprehend the perpetrator.
However, while in the act of making the arrest, the suspect suddenly attacked and stabbed the police officer once in the right eye. The victim, a member of Santa Catalina Municipal Police Station, was an executive master sergeant, whose identity was withheld by the police.
The injured officer was rushed to Ace Hospital in Bayawan City after the incident. Reports from the hospital indicated that a major artery in the victim’s eye was hit, causing heavy bleeding. Medical procedures were performed to stabilize his condition before referral to a hospital in Dumaguete City.
Meanwhile, the suspect attempted to escape by jumping out of his house window but was pursued and arrested by responding officers near a river in the barangay.
The Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office assured that appropriate charges will be filed against the suspect, who is now under the custody of the police for proper disposition.*
