Mexican Crocodile Shooting: Police Officer Attack Posted On YouTube, Gets Him Suspended
A Mexican crocodile shooting ended up getting a police officer suspended. Footage found on YouTube shows a police officer firing at the big lizard with a machine gun before another officer joins him for a few extra shots.
The reason this video earned the officer a suspension is that crocodiles are considered a protected species in Mexico.
The incident happened at a water treatment facility in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, which also happens to be the home of Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman. Guzman was Mexico’s most wanted man until his arrest in February 2014, the head of a drug cartel which controlled traffic of illegal substances along the Pacific Coast.
Mexican cop charged for shooting protected crocodile http://t.co/jp45OTVml4 pic.twitter.com/Acy0UflJ82
— FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) March 31, 2015
The American crocodile, or Crocodylus acutus, is protected because it holds a spot on the critically endangered list according to environmental agency Profepa. The situation behind the Mexican crocodile shooting was allegedly enough of a problem that the police officer allegedly decided that he had to protect the people instead.
A crowd of Civil Protection agents was gathered in the area by the water treatment plant where the officer did the deed which got him suspended. Profepa claims the officer killed it for no reason, even though it was beginning to climb onto land near a local population.
Social media was outraged by the video, which shows the officer firing a machine gun into the animal, followed by the cheers of the gathered crowd. According to the BBC News, someone had told him it wasn’t dead yet, and another officer walked over and used his pistol to help finish the job.
Sergio Liera, head of Ahome’s Civil Protection, allegedly said his department had ordered the animal killed because it was a threat to the people around it. The weapon and amount of rounds used to do the deed may have been a literal case of overkill, which is possibly why Profepa had a problem with the Mexican crocodile shooting.
The officer who used the machine gun is facing criminal charges and up to nine years in jail.
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
