By Johnnie Rosario
(Tumon, Guam) Joey Aguon, the Guam Police officer caught on video assaulting a cuffed defendant last November, has neither been arrested nor fired from the Guam Police Department.
Kandit News Group last week requested an update into the internal affairs investigation into Mr. Aguon. By law, the Chief of Police is supposed to publish a status update of its internal investigations 30 days after the investigation starts.
It has been more than 30 days since the start of the internal affairs investigation into Mr. Aguon's in-living-color assault of a cuffed man.
Mr. Aguon is seen in a viral video clearly punching a cuffed defendant in his abdomen area. Other officers in the video appear to take no action.
Despite the evidence of the crimes, the Guam Police Department has not arrested Mr. Aguon. The Attorney General's Office has applied for no warrant of arrest, either.
Instead, GPD has returned Mr. Aguon to the police force. Rather than placing Mr. Aguon in an administrative position to deter his further misconduct against the public, the police command decided to place him under the Tamuning Tumon Police Precinct, responding to calls for service and placing the public in harm's way.
The Office of the Chief of Police told Kandit that the public can be assured that Mr. Aguon will not be allowed to reoffend under the watchful eye of the precinct's commander, Jason Aguon.
When asked whether GPD is concerned about the potential liability Mr. Aguon poses to the government of Guam if he in fact assaults another cuffed defendant, the special assistant to the chief of police told Kandit that they are confident the risks of this happening are low.
The clock on administrative sanctions against Mr. Aguon does not end until 90 days after the government of Guam knew or should have known about Mr. Aguon's misconduct. The government, however, is halfway to that mark, and the clock is ticking.
Civil Rights Violation = U.S. Department of Justice. Anything local is rigged.
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