Controversy erupts over policewoman’s abuse in Bogotá, who hit a young man on the head with a baton because he was taking pictures of her: “Take it out on your mother”

The officer repeatedly hit the man on the head for no apparent reason and tried to prevent being filmed while conducting a search.

A video has gone viral on social media showing a policewoman patrolling near the Rincón Immediate Attention Center (CAI) in the Suba district physically assaulting a man who was trying to record a video of her. The incident occurred in a park in the capital city during a search.

While the uniformed officer and her partner were carrying out the police procedure, one of the young men decided to take his cell phone out of his pocket to record the authorities, which apparently sparked the anger of the officer.

In fact, the man’s actions were 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 officer began striking him repeatedly on the head with her service baton as punishment for disobeying her orders. After the beating, the victim stated that he was not photographing her, but rather recording the search.

The young man’s words increased the officer’s fury, and she tried to intimidate him, repeatedly threatening 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 photograph me (…) go take pictures of your mother,  not me,” the officer insisted to the young man.

The officer requested identification to check the criminal records of the man and his companions. However, the young man, approximately 20 years old, refused to provide his identification and ignored the warnings, continuing to record the video.

She even claimed that the police officers’ actions were an abuse and against the law:  “Don’t touch me, not like that, this isn’t how it’s done, this is for social media,” she said while trying to get 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 proper legal procedures. The female officer immediately responded, “I don’t give a damn, give me your ID,” before cutting the video and taking his phone.

After the incident came to light, videos circulated on social media showing the young man’s face after the woman’s blows. The clip shows the victim’s cheekbone swollen from the attack.

The abuse by the Bogotá Metropolitan Police officer sparked a wave of divided opinions. Thousands of internet users expressed their disapproval of the situation, arguing that several rules were violated, since recording the procedure is legal.

“Every public servant can be recorded; the police are anything but good; Oh noooo that’s an abuse… the Attorney General’s Office should be involved… the police must be respected, but they must also respect others… ; “People find it hard to accept that 90 percent of police officers have an attitude like this woman’s, if you can even call her a woman, because someone who uses a public office knows that the procedure can be recorded and is considered to be breaking the law,” are some of the comments from users.

Meanwhile, other internet users took advantage of the situation to laugh at the officer’s misconduct, suggesting she would be fired or punished for hitting the young man.

“I already see a disciplinary hearing with a ruling included, she condemned herself hahaha;  “Poor uniformed woman, I think she might lose her job”; “Just another unemployed person.”

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