The Military Chamber of the Supreme Court has confirmed the sanction of suspension of a year of employment imposed on a Civil Guard agent who decided to stay "watching" as his patrol partner tried to immobilize and detain a man , who had been denounced for galloping with his horse among the pedestrians near the hermitage of El Rocío.

The high court magistrates have dismissed the JICM appeal. against the judgment of last February 27 issued by the Central Military Court , which confirmed that sanction imposed in September 2016 by the General Directorate of the Armed Institute when they understood that they had committed a serious lack of urgent omission of aid.

According to the proven facts of the Supreme Court ruling, on December 27, 2015 this Civil Guard agent was on duty at the post of El Rocío de la Comandancia de Huelva , where he was in command.

That same afternoon, around 6:00 p.m., his patrol received a warning to move to the surroundings of the hermitage of El Rocío, where he had received word that "a person was galloping on horseback among the pedestrians and was seriously danger their integrity . "

He fled

Once the rider was located near the hermitage, he and his patrol partner stopped this person, who "galloped again among the pedestrians" when the agents got out of their vehicle. This fact motivated that a persecution began , recounts the resolution of the high court.

The JICM assistant took advantage of a moment in which the rider fell to the ground to stop him, but he prevented it because he pounced on it, brandishing a whip with which he hit the agent in the left arm .

"Despite the strong pain suffered by the Civil Guard begins action with the aim of immobilizing the civilian," while his boss, the accused civil guard, was watching "a few meters, while holding the horse, without providing any support" to his companion, indicates the sentence.

Help from other cops

The rider even tried to pull a knife from his pocket while saying he was going to "crack" the Armed Institute agent. Given the aggressiveness and "lack of help" on the part of the accused, an off-duty police officer came to the scene , who notified the citizens that they were being disturbed; a patrol of the Local Police of Almonte (Huelva) and a team of the Traffic Association of the Civil Guard.

The Supreme Court considers that the disciplinary sanction imposed on JICM is adequate to the infraction committed, since the sanctioning resolution clearly reasoned the criteria of proportionality and individualization.

Explains that the director general of the Civil Guard justified the seriousness of the fact the "high degree of affectation to the discipline given the public significance of what happened", to which is added his status as head of couple and the injuries suffered by your partner

Likewise, the high court affirms that the decision to adopt this resolution has not affected its presumption of innocence "because there was sufficient proof of charge". Moreover, he emphasizes that during the procedure, the accused agent took advantage of his right not to testify and that, therefore, the court was deprived of an "alternative account" that could be compared with testimony.

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