U.S. troops, Philippine police in bar brawl face sanctions

[frozenmystic28]

49 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

I don't think the Filipinos showed any intent to start something.

I watched it again and I did see the gun this time.

The G.I. who started it is an idiot and should know better, but maybe he is one of those guys that just has to do stupid things.  He pulled the beer bottle prank on somebody he did not know who happened to be a drunk, sleeping, Filipino police officer, with his gun in a bag, sitting at a table of police officers.  The other Filipino went to grab the bag first and that may have been because ALL of their guns were in there and he was trying to make sure they stayed in their hands.  That would be a natural instinct.

Where I come from you don't pull a prank like that on someone you don't know.  OK for your buddies but not for strangers.  Imagine the same scenario, no guns, no police, at a U.S. bar with a lot of macho guys drinking.  Your group is sitting next to another group you don't know, and you pull the prank on the other group's sleeping drunk.  It is natural that the other group is going to defend their sleeping drunk.  You are looking for a fight if you do that.

Then you do it in a foreign country where you have men who never want to "lose face"?  I would think that the "losing face" cultural aspect is something that the G.I.s should be coached on.  That guy is lucky he and a couple of his buddies did not get shot.

 

Good point... but still. you just can't pull a gun or even get drunk when you're in a monitoring and surveillance duty.

The police chief said that when asked, Celino explained that they were at the bar because they were on monitoring and surveillance duty against a drug user and pusher.

 

[OnMyWay]

1 minute ago, frozenmystic28 said:

Good point... but still. you just can't pull a gun or even get drunk when you're in a monitoring and surveillance duty.

The police chief said that when asked, Celino explained that they were at the bar because they were on monitoring and surveillance duty against a drug user and pusher.

I didn't see that part.  Their wives all know each other so I think he was covering!  

[frozenmystic28]

http://interaksyon.com/article/126373/puerto-princesa-deputy-police-chief-vs-16-balikatan-us-marines-in-night-club-brawl

[robert k]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

I don't think the Filipinos showed any intent to start something.

I watched it again and I did see the gun this time.

The G.I. who started it is an idiot and should know better, but maybe he is one of those guys that just has to do stupid things.  He pulled the beer bottle prank on somebody he did not know who happened to be a drunk, sleeping, Filipino police officer, with his gun in a bag, sitting at a table of police officers.  The other Filipino went to grab the bag first and that may have been because ALL of their guns were in there and he was trying to make sure they stayed in their hands.  That would be a natural instinct.

Where I come from you don't pull a prank like that on someone you don't know.  OK for your buddies but not for strangers.  Imagine the same scenario, no guns, no police, at a U.S. bar with a lot of macho guys drinking.  Your group is sitting next to another group you don't know, and you pull the prank on the other group's sleeping drunk.  It is natural that the other group is going to defend their sleeping drunk.  You are looking for a fight if you do that.

Then you do it in a foreign country where you have men who never want to "lose face"?  I would think that the "losing face" cultural aspect is something that the G.I.s should be coached on.  That guy is lucky he and a couple of his buddies did not get shot.

There was only the one gun. That bag was thoroughly frisked in the scuffle. I think it was a tactical mistake to display the gun. You have the bag with the gun in it and nobody knows it's there. But you take it out along with a wad of other stuff in plain view of God and everyone. I doubt that was an accident. If you are going to call it at all, call it what it is. It was an attempt to intimidate and an escalation. Guncop wasn't careful where the muzzle was pointed either, watch the video again. One should not display a weapon until you are ready to use it. Pulling the pistol out of the bag is the reason they lost the pistol. A pistol won't make someone respect you, but it can make them fear you. Some people when they are afraid take direct action to alleviate that fear. You will notice that as soon as the pistol was secured, it was over. While true there could have been a number of people shot when Guncop had the pistol, once he had the pistol taken away from him there could have been what is sometimes referred to as a good old fashioned cowboy ***whipping by bigger men with numbers on their side, but that didn't happen, even though it's pretty common if you pull a gun on someone and they take it away from you.

I will guarantee one thing though, if I have to take it away from you because you brandish it, you will never...ever...ever get it back in working order or fixable, meaning it's going in a river or being d-milled right there on a concrete floor. I notice that Guncop got a lot more reasonable and wanted to open a dialog after he was disarmed. You would hardly recognize him except for the bag. The bag which was probably necessary because they were violating Comelec rules. It looked to me like one meathead and one hothead conspired to ruin everyone's fun.

I see that someone is covering for them and saying they were on duty. I'm not buying it. Passing out seems to be going a little far to establish your cover. And he wasn't faking, he didn't get involved at all in the scrum for the pistol.

Edited April 15, 2016 by robert k