A local man was arrested on Thursday for filming and insulting a traffic police officer, the Public Security Police (PSP) spokesperson said at a briefing on Friday.
The 25-year-old suspect surnamed O told the police that he’s an on-call worker.
According to the spokesperson, the Public Security Police recently discovered video footage circulating on social media showing that a man in a car was using his smartphone to film a traffic police officer who was carrying out his duties. The officer asked the man to stop filming but the man asked him about the legal basis for not being allowed to film him, after which he verbally insulted him.
The Public Security Police immediately asked officer for the details of the incident. The officer said that when he was on duty last Tuesday at about 11 p.m., he discovered a car parked illegally and obstructing traffic in Rua de Nam Keng in Taipa. He saw a man in the car who was watching a video on his smartphone so he issued a traffic ticket for obstructing traffic. The officer said that the man used his smartphone to film him when he was issuing the ticket. The man drove away after the officer had issued the ticket. The footage was later circulated on social media, the spokesperson said.
The Public Security Police identified O as the suspect based on his vehicle registration information and told him to report to a police station on Thursday. O denied filming the officer and uploading the video to social media. However, after further investigation, the police confirmed that O was the suspect.
O has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing illegal recording and aggravated insult charges, according to the spokesperson.
