A police officer in Peru has been suspended after he was caught kissing a woman, to whom he was going to fine for breaching a Covid curfew.
Footage captures the moment in which he locked lips with the brunette after she appeared to persuade him to swap the penalty charge for canoodle. The unnamed officer was forced to temporarily leave his job amid an ongoing investigation carried out by authorities in the Peruvian capital Lima.
As soon as the footage released, a local TV station forced the officer’s suspension after obtaining footage of the moment he leaned in and kissed the woman that he was about to fine.
The unidentified woman could be seen drawing dangerously near to the cop as he prepares to write her a notice for breaking coronavirus restrictions.
But after a few seconds of hesitation, the officer appeared to change his mind as he dropped a kiss on her lips.
The decision to send him home, without uttering an ongoing investigation was taken by the mayor of the district of Miraflores in the Peruvian capital Lima.
Bero Rodriguez, in charge of citizen security for the district, said: ‘Our mayor Luis Molina has taken the decision to suspend this officer immediately. There are several infringements. The young woman disrespects social distancing rules and he allows it. Then he takes off his mask to give her a kiss. Confirming the officer had never been in trouble before, he added: ‘This action by itself is a very serious one and that’s why he’s been suspended.’
The woman was intercepted in Malecon de la Marina, known in English as Miraflores Boardwalk which runs by the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday Peru announced more than 44,000 people had died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
It is currently in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus which has been deadlier than the first.
