Harm’s way

Policemen and soldiers are said to already have one of their feet in their respective graves every time they step out of their houses or barracks and into harm’s way.

In one d egree or another, others from the uniformed services like the Coast Guard, as well as firefighters and personnel of disaster response units, must constantly reckon with our mortality.

This, naturally, holds true for all of us: Each day can potentially be our last, so we should always make our peace with our Creator, whatever religion or belief system we subscribe to.

Remember those five rescuers who sacrificed their lives to save others following a deadly storm that spawned rampaging floodwaters in Bulacan last September? Theirs is a heroic, but tragic tale.

Still, storms, while becoming more frequent and devastating due to climate change, are not day-today occurrences, unlike what cops and soldiers have to face routinely.

For the men and women of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces, whose uniforms serve as an open invitation for attacks by criminals and enemies of the state, saying a prayer should come automatically after putting on their gear.

This constant threat to life and limb is partly the reason why, if you compare the turnover and mortality rates among the different units of the PNP, you are most likely to discover they’re way higher for Special Action Force and Special Weapons and Tactics team operators.

I’ve heard of some who want to get out of those units after realizing what they signed for is not for them — to no avail as they have to complete the required minimum service. There were those who had resorted to going AWOL or absent without official leave, understandably to stay alive.

It is against this backdrop that we view the clamor for clarity made by the family of that civilian motorcycle rider who, weeks back, helped policemen chase armed criminals, with one cop riding in tandem with him.

Initial news reports said the civilian was shot dead during the chase, with the implication that the criminals shot him in their exchange of gunfire with policemen.

A family member has now come out to say that, apparently, based on an autopsy report, the rider succumbed to a gunshot entry wound on his back, with the bullet exiting in front of his torso.

The question raised was whether or not the rider was shot by the criminals or inadvertently by a cop. The premise raised was that the entry wound should have been in front of the torso if the gunshot came from those being chased.

This question can definitively be settled with the use of ballistic and medico-legal science, taking into account the identification of the gun used in the fatal shooting if the bullet slug had been recovered, and, whether the point of entry had powder-burn marks suggesting the weapon was pressing at the back of the rider when fired.

Police actions are fluid, whereby the ones being chased could still wound up behind the ones doing the chasing like when overtaken. Here, closed-circuit television camera footage, if any is available, may shed light on what really happened.

With such concerns, the PNP should be open to another agency of government, like the National Bureau of Investigation, running a parallel investigation into this case just so the queries being raised by the family and the public may be answered.

Hurting, the family also asked why the police allowed the civilian rider to participate in the inherently dangerous operation when any policeman could have just legally commandeered the motorcycle or any vehicle in the vicinity for that matter.

They said they would not have minded the motorcycle being damaged or even destroyed in the course of the chase as long as their loved one was not allowed to drive the bike itself with heartrending consequences.

This should serve as a warning to all civilians, especially those who are predisposed to engaging in heroic undertakings with little concern for personal safety: Police actions are dangerous and, in most cases, should be left to professionals who trained for them.

“It is against this backdrop that we view the clamor for clarity made by the family of the civilian motorcycle rider who, weeks back, helped policemen chase armed criminals.

“Each day could potentially be our last, so we should always make our peace with our Creator, whatever religion or belief system we subscribe to.