The second corporal, who was sentenced this week, is convinced that he acted within the framework of the law.
During the last few months, Police Corporal Santiago Olmedo has had to wear a shackle and appear before the competent authorities on Tuesdays and Thursdays as part of the measures that were dictated to him in the process he faces for killing two alleged criminals in June. of 2021.
A Court of Criminal Guarantees of Chimborazo condemned him in this case for overreaching in the execution of an act of service. On Wednesday he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison and to pay $10,000 for each of the deceased in this case and a fine of 10 basic salaries.
In an interview with this newspaper, Olmedo, 34, from Imbabura, says that he is convinced that he acted within the law when he saw that his life was at risk that June morning when he chased an assailant who was struggling with a minor. . In pursuit, he says, he ran into two other subjects as he rounded a corner. What happened there led him to shoot.
How did you receive the sentence of the Chimborazo Court?
Really with a total indignation. It is not what we thought the judges were going to resolve by administering justice, but on the contrary, we thought that my state of innocence was going to be ratified, for which I enjoy through an evaluation by the judges in accordance with the trial hearing which was carried out for five days.
The District Attorney says that you exceeded your limits in an act of service. Why don’t you think so?
In order for there to be the commission of an alleged crime of overreach, it must be contemplated or be certain that there was not the correct use of force, the progressive use. At all times, the correct progressive use of force was given, from our presence, the verbalization and the use of lethal dissuasive elements according to the circumstance and the aggressiveness of the case and that presented by the offender.
The Prosecutor’s Office indicates that you used your staff weapon 200 meters away and shot the alleged antisocials in the back.
I do not know why the Prosecutor’s Office has manifested itself in this way. The neutralization of criminals occurs because there was an ambush on my person, the criminals had the necessary time to flee, they were on a motorcycle, as did a third person who was near a vacant lot where he fled. But the two criminals who die are not fleeing from the place, they are not and rather they wait for me at the corner of José María Roura and Pedro León streets, where I arrive in order to apprehend one of the criminals who was committing an offense against a minor.
A video of a part of the incident went viral where you see an alleged criminal attacking a minor, you appear and go in pursuit, what happened later on that corner?
At that moment I am surprised that he is not just a criminal, but that there are three people who, in a hostile, aggressive, violent and cowardly way, carry out simultaneous actions that endanger my life. A first individual pounces on me with the knife in order to attack me, the second who was on the motorcycle makes the gesture of putting his hand to his waist to grab a firearm and in profanity says that he should remove me or kill me . The third person was diagonal to them with a gun pointed. These three actions put my life at risk…
What led the judges to convict the policeman Santiago Olmedo? The Prosecutor’s Office indicates that he was shot more than a dozen times, the corporal refutes arguments
At what point did you decide to use the weapon?
The shots were not 200 meters away as indicated by the Prosecutor’s Office, they are less than two meters away. That is, there was a super short distance between the criminals and me. At the moment that the simultaneous actions take place, they put my life at risk and there I have no other option than to use my firearm to neutralize the criminal action.
What happened in the persecution with his other companions who participated… The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that they did not find sufficient elements to determine the participation of the rest.
For the Prosecutor’s Office there are not enough elements, but it should be noted that one of the expert reports says that the three servers who were in the place fired shots. Why do you come to that conclusion? Because they do an electronic sweep on our hands in order to take samples of gunpowder residue to see if it has been fired or not. That expert opinion concludes that the three servers fired shots. Why am I directly accused? So there is the lack of objectivity of the investigation carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office.
In Ecuador there are about 900 processes against police officers. Do you think they are helpless in the face of this type of event?
Yes, we feel defenseless at a legal level and it is time for the law for the progressive use of force to be approved because we would be legally protected. We are more than 900 servers who are being prosecuted in the line of duty.
After the pronouncement of President Guillermo Lasso, who showed his support, would you wait for a pardon?
Lasso sends a message to the policeman Santiago Olmedo, sentenced for shooting down two criminals
We have to analyze all the legal estates where we can go. In the first instance we appreciate the support of the president. We are convinced that we acted within the law and that the procedure that should have been followed was followed, that we acted under the protection of the law. The pardon would be like the last instance of everything that this process involves. We are going to appeal the ruling. (I)
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