Two cops detained after man killed during cockfighting raid

Manekseka Sangkum: 

This kind of incidents is far from being uncommon occurrences. So common in fact that accidental deaths and injuries suggest a well worn pattern that goes well beyond exceptional or isolated mishaps. Therefore, if we treat the officers directly involved in this and other countless like incidents as being immediately culpable and accountable before the law over their negligence or misconduct, we ought to at the same time question as to why there is still such an unacceptable margin and room for the repetition of these tragic errors and consequences? Beside the issue of poor training linked to lack of resources in the police forces, what else are involved in accounting for these accidents and fatalities? 

Like the apparent failure to arrest or even abate the speed at which the country's primary forest cover is being lost due to the rampant timber trade or the high incidence of road accidents, who are the main masterminds behind the trends? Not the impoverished villagers or ill-paid local police officers, surely? 

The two cops detained are no more than scapegoats here. It is their bosses who are the real culprits, and most deserving of punitive punishment. 

Do we think the power that be will stop with these two men, if say, any of their immediate family members will have been the unfortunate victim of the accidental shootings instead? 

And speaking of cock-fighting, since when has this been declared illegal? Wasn't the late deputy PM Sok An an avid fan of the "sport" for most of his lifetime? 

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Kuoch Masy | Publication date 23 January 2018 | 07:16 ICT

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People gather around the body of Seak Ron, a bystander who was shot to death during a police raid on a cockfighting ring. Hong Menea

Two police officers were detained yesterday and are being questioned over the death of a man shot dead on Sunday during a raid on a cockfighting ring, allegedly by a stray police bullet.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Chuon Sovan said the two officers belonged to Por Sen Chey district police, but he declined to name the pair.

“They are competent to crack down on crime, but when it is a danger to people, we must open a thorough investigation,” he said.

“It was not the intention to kill anyone. It was a law enforcement operation and the use of firearms was to threaten the perpetrators [the gamblers at the cockfighting ring] to silence them and ensure the success of the operation.

“But it was an accident and the bullet could have ricocheted and hit the victim. The bullet removed from the body could be [misshapen].”

But on Sunday, Nong Sovanroth, a forensic pathologist who assessed the corpse of 33-year old victim Seak Ron, suggested an intact bullet had hit him in the throat and exited his body.

Nop Chantha, brother-in-law of the deceased, said police had paid the family $8,000 in compensation.

“The compromise is to get the money to support his children,” Chantha said, adding the family had not filed a complaint. Ron was the father of two children, aged 5 and 2.

Sovann said the case required both civil compensation – which he characterised as a humanitarian gift – as well as legal action, but denied the case was compromised.

Por Sen Chey District Police Chief Yim Saran, believed to have overseen the botched police operation, refused to take multiple calls from reporters yesterday.