Taguig road rage: BI officer attacks cabbie

MANILA, Philippines — A Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer was arrested on Friday for reportedly punching a taxi driver in a road rage incident in Taguig.

Abumelhaq Linog, 41, was caught on closed-circuit television footage attacking taxi driver Celso delos Santos, 53, in front of a mall in Bonifacio Global City at around 5 p.m.

According to the Southern Police District (SPD), Linog and Delos Santos were driving along McKinley Parkway when the taxi driver allegedly cut into the lane of Delos Santos, who was driving a sport utility vehicle.

Linog had to quickly step on the brakes, causing his wife – who was in the front passenger seat – to nearly hit the dashboard, the SPD reported.

The BI officer got out of his vehicle and confronted Delos Santos.

Mall guards had tried to intervene, but Linog threw a container of juice at Delos Santos’ face, while Linog’s wife threw a bottle of water at the taxi driver, ABS-CBN reported.

Delos Santos said in Filipino that the suspect “must have thought I would attack his wife, so he punched me.”

The taxi driver claimed that Linog tried to force him to settle the case, but he still plans to file charges, according to ABS-CBN.

“We work for a living. They think they are rich. They have money, but not that much,” Delos Santos said in Filipino.

Linog faces charges of physical injury.