Officer assaulted young man for recording her during a police procedure – credit: Colprensa

A video went viral on social media showing a police officer who was patrolling near the CAI Rincón, located in the Suba district, physically assaulting a man who was trying to record a video in which she appeared. The incident took place in a park in the country’s capital during a police search.

While the officer and her partner were carrying out the police procedure, one of the young men decided to take his cellphone out of his pocket to record the authorities, which apparently triggered the officer’s anger.

Controversy over abuse by a female police officer in Bogotá, who struck a young man on the head with her baton for taking photos of her: “Take them with your mother.”

The policewoman repeatedly struck the man on the head with no apparent reason and tried to prevent him from being recorded while she was conducting a search.

A video went viral on social media showing a policewoman who was patrolling near the CAI Rincón, located in the Suba district, physically assaulting a man who was trying to record a video in which she appeared. The events took place in a park in the country’s capital during a police search.

While the officer and her partner were carrying out the police procedure, one of the young men decided to take his cellphone out of his pocket to record the authorities, which apparently triggered the officer’s anger.

In fact, the man’s action was not well received by the officer conducting the inspection, who, in an agitated tone, asked the young man not to record her. “Look over there, don’t take pictures of me,” she said.

In response to the man’s refusal, the police officer began to strike him several times on the head with her standard-issue baton as punishment for not following her orders. After the blows, the victim stated that he was not photographing her, but rather recording the search.

The young man’s words further increased the officer’s fury. She tried to intimidate him and repeatedly threatened to hit him again if he did not comply with her directive to put away his phone and stop recording.

“Don’t record me, don’t take pictures of me, or anything like that. Don’t be photographing me (…) go take them with your mother, not with me,” the officer told the young man insistently.

As a result, the officer demanded his identity document to check the man’s and his companions’ criminal records. In this context, the approximately 20-year-old young man did not hand over his identification and ignored the warnings, as he did not stop the video.

He even argued that the officers’ actions were an abuse and went against the law: “Don’t touch me, not like this, this isn’t how it’s done, this is going on social media,” he said while trying to move away from the officers.

To document the assault he suffered, the young man recorded the faces of the two police officers, whom he accused of not following the proper legal procedure. Immediately, the officer did not hesitate to respond: “I don’t give a fuck, hand over your ID,” and then cut the video by taking his cellphone away.

After the events became known, videos circulated on social media in which the assaulted young man showed what his face looked like after the woman’s blows. In the clip, the victim’s cheekbone can be seen swollen as a result of the attack.

The abuse by the official of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police caused a wave of divided opinions. Thousands of internet users expressed their rejection of the situation, arguing that several rules were violated, since it is legal to record the procedure.

“Any public servant can be recorded; the police are anything but good; Oh nooo, that’s abuse… report her to the Attorney General’s Office… the police must be respected, but they must also show respect…”; “People find it hard to accept that 90 percent of police officers have an attitude like this woman’s—if she can even be called a woman—because anyone who uses a public office knows that procedures can be recorded, and acting otherwise is considered outside the law,” are some of the users’ comments.

Meanwhile, other internet users took advantage of the situation to mock the officer’s misconduct, pointing out that she would be fired or sanctioned for hitting the young man.

“I already see a disciplinary case with a verdict included—she convicted herself hahaha”; “Poor officer, I think she might lose her job”; “One more unemployed person.”

Regarding the events witnessed in the country’s capital, neither the city’s mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán, nor the National Police or the District Secretariat of Security have issued any statements to provide explanations.