Jakarta – The Bukittinggi Police in West Sumatra have arrested five members of the Siliwangi Bandung chapter of the Harley Owners Group (HOG) motorcycle club for allegedly beating two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel in a road rage incident.
"We have named five people suspects in the assault," Bukittinggi Police chief Adj. Sr. Cmr. Dody Prawinegara said on Monday as reported by kompas.com.
From preliminary investigation, Dody said the suspects were allegedly involved in the beating, which was captured in a mobile phone recording, CCTV footage and testimonies from witnesses on site.
West Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Satake Bayu said authorities had arrested the five suspects.
"The suspects are currently being detained at Bukittinggi police headquarters," Satake said on Sunday as reported by tempo.co.
They were charged under articles 170 and 351 of the Criminal Code on assault, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Beside arresting the suspects, authorities also confiscated 13 Harley Davidson motorcycles belonging to the HOG members.
TNI Military Police Center (Puspomad) chief Lt. Gen. Dodik Wijanarko said the incident took place on Jl. Dr. Hamka, Bukittinggi at around 5:30 a.m. on Friday.
"The two officers, M. Yusuf and Mustari, were riding a motorcycle on Jl. Dr. Hamka when they met several members of HOG who were on a motorcycle tour," Dodik said as reported by kompas.com.
He explained that several motorcyclists were reportedly riding at high speeds as they had been separated from their main tour group and were trying to catch up.
The riders of the big motorcycles, locally known as Moge, passed the two soldiers' motorcycle recklessly, revving their engine and forcing the two men to ride their motorcycle onto the sidewalk.
Yusuf and Mustari immediately chased the motorcyclists and stopped them.
The soldiers and the HOG members got into an argument, which ended in several HOG members allegedly assaulting Yusuf and Mustari.
"At the time of the incident, the soldiers were not wearing their uniforms as they were working for the intelligence [division] of 0304/Agam district military command [Kodim]," Dodik said.
Yusuf and Mustari then reported the incident to the Bukittinggi Police. (nal)