Police threatened to throw pixman off third floor

A police officer yesterday threatened a press photographer that he would be thrown off the third floor of a bus terminal after the latter was detained for no apparent reason. "(The officer) also told me he would soak me in a lake," said national newswire Bernama photographer Hairul Nizam Bahrin.

Hairul, 37, was taken to the police station in the Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Bus Terminal handcuffed and with his head covered, unaware of why he was detained.The photographer was riding his motorcycle, returning from duty at about 11.45am yesterday at the Bandar Tasik Selatan Integrated Bus Terminal when he was stopped by plainclothes men.

"A motorcyclist came close to me and told me to stop. He was not dressed in a police uniform. Several seconds later, several other motorcyclists approached me and asked me to stop, but they too were not in uniform so I ignored them," he said.

In the report, lodged at the Jalan Tun Razak station last night, he said that he stopped about 500 metres ahead after he was blocked.

"One of the motorcyclists took my keys, so I took his in retaliation. Then they started yelling at me, telling to remove my helmet and hand over my identity card but I refused.

"This continued until an auxiliary police sergeant came and started pushing me. When I told him he had no right to touch me, he punched me on the lip," he said.

Police tried to "negotiate"
He was also hit on the head and torso after his helmet was removed, and was handcuffed when he struggled to break free.

"I yelled, saying that they cannot do this to me as I am not a thief. I also called my office to inform them that I had been assaulted and handcuffed, but the sergeant snatched the phone away," he said.

Hairul said that the handcuffs were removed when they reached the terminal police station, where he was asked to go to the back room to "negotiate" with a police officer.

"He got angry when I asked if the area that I had photographed is a restricted area, and if there was a letter from the Home Ministry to say so.

"That's when he threatened to throw me off the third floor," he said when contacted today.

Hairul was later brought to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters by the police auxiliary sergeant, and was eventually released from the ordeal which lasted for about an hour.

"They never told me why they detained me," he said.

Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/153016