Victim of brutality says it was orchestrated by the police top brass

The violent assault of Ernesto Chan last Thursday in San Ignacio by a pair of officers is the fourth reported incident of police brutality within that jurisdiction of late.  On Monday, Chan gave a dramatic account of being accosted by two plainclothes officers who pursued him from in front of his home in the Santiago Juan Layout after dropping off his wife.  The men tailed the cabdriver while en route to pick up a customer, before cutting him off abruptly and beating him to a bloody pulp.  The incident, according to Chan, was motivated by a love triangle he has found himself in; one in which his wife is accused of having an affair with a ranking officer at the San Ignacio Police Station.  While the matter is currently under criminal and internal investigation, Chan’s attorney, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia spoke with News Five today.  She told us that not only has Chan been harassed repeatedly by the officers but they proceeded to file a false report against him after the vicious beat down.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Attorney for Ernesto Chan

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

“It is not in dispute that on the evening in question last Thursday a private vehicle owned by a police officer dropped off Mrs. Chan at her home.  Mr. Chan witnessed that, he moved off to go and pick up a customer because he’s a taxi man and that was when, my instructions are, when the incident occurred in which the two police officers in plainclothes and smelling of alcohol, grabbed him out of his vehicle, punched him in his mouth, breaking his tooth and also put him down in the drain and put their knees on him and give him a good damn beating, if you want to put it that way, you know.  My client went to the hospital, he showed them his hand bleeding, his mouth bloody up.  And I would just like to say that a simple investigation, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist,a  simple investigation by persons who are in the media can probably tell you why my client is being harassed.  This was not the first time, last Thursday the nineteenth, was not the first time my client has been pulled into the police station and harassed by police officers and again it is absolutely not in dispute that the misses is the clerk of court in San Ignacio.  I want to say that this foolishness of police brutality has to stop.  I made a complaint to the officer in charge yesterday, Mr. Reyes and my understanding is that after the, you know, I don’t want to use bad language but after the beat up my client the police officers filed a false report against him to try to cover their tracks.  But I would want to say that I want the public to know that not only did my client have the right to go and make this issue a part of the public, you know, to go to the media about it, but I have to certainly, on his behalf say that this foolishness has to stop.  The harassment, their going rogue, they’re filing false reports about people and apparently there’s an allegation that one of the police got hurt in the incident.  Well if you’re beating somebody up with your bare hands maybe you get hurt indeed.”

News Five understands that the officers who reportedly attacked Chan were acting on behalf of the senior officer who is allegedly engaged in a relationship with his estranged wife.