US Naval Officer: Set up or busted?

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.S. Navy officer jumped to his death at Manila’s airport after he was arrested with what was thought to be cocaine, Philippine officials said Tuesday, but tests later showed the white powder wasn’t an illegal drug.

Lt. Cmdr. Scintar Buenviaje Mejia died of head injuries after jumping from a second-floor staircase Monday while a security guard escorted him to the bathroom, aviation police chief Pedro Desuasido said.

The 35-year-old Mejia, a U.S. citizen of Filipino descent, was arrested a day earlier at an airport X-ray machine after security officials found a plastic packet containing what was suspected to be cocaine in his bag, Desuasido said. He was about to board a flight to Los Angeles.

Desuasido said Mejia shouted and threw the packet at security officials. He denied the packet was his and claimed he was set up.

Dionisio Santiago, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, said chemical tests on the powder in Mejia’s bag showed it did not contain drugs. The tests, however, didn’t determine what the powder was.

Wossie Mazengia, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman, said American officials were aware of what happened to Mejia. She said Philippine National Police officials were investigating.

(End of story. My comments follow.)

There is more here than meets the eye.

First, in my own experience it's extremely unlikely that anyone at the rank of LCDR would be moving coke. Those involved in doing that are almost unfailingly users themselves and that little fact would have come to light way before this. If we're supposed to believe the man just started at the age of 35 then we're to believe he spent his adult life immersed and supporting an anti-drug culture, only to basically turn his life in a 180 degree direction in a short time. It might happen, I once knew of a senior chief petty officer who was discovered to be a coke head. But that sort of thing is sooo unlikely it isn't even funny.

Second, dying from a two story fall? C'mon doesn't that sound a bit unlikely? Broken legs, yeah. If he was a world class klutz, maybe. But again this is highly unlikely. Unless he was helped (more on that possibility in a bit).

Third, the police we're talking about aren't from Mayberry RFD. I've always respected Filipinos but the fact is the Phillipines are a Third World Country. They're not too far removed from the time of Ferdinand Marcos. While the man was a staunch ally of the USA he would never be confused with a soft & snuggly advocate of human rights. As a matter of fact, damned few countries in this world would be as soft in that area as we are. Try citing your "rights" when you get busted overseas, I'm sure the local cops will enjoy a good laugh. This isn't to denigrate our allies, I'm merely trying to state we take a lot for granted.

As for the topic of human rights being observed by our allies and the possibility this man was "helped" to jump that staircase, let me relate a story from my last command (yep, it's seastory time!)

Aboard the Usetafish we were rigged to support SEAL operations. During the time I was on her there was a SEAL Team assigned to us, they're interesting folk to say the least!

Anyway, shortly after their assignment they were joined by a team member who'd been held in a Spanish jail for three years on charges of assault and public mayhem. Seems the Guardia Civil busted into a hotel room he and a high school classmate were sharing, I forget the reason for the bust and to be truthful there may have been none. As I said, this wasn't Mayberry.

So the upshot of it was the SEAL team member was roughed up (and as big and strong as he was, that must have took some doing!). He lost three front teeth in the deal. His classmate supposedly leaped out of the hotel window (a five story drop). Three front teeth is cheap, all things considered. That leap happened only in the presence of La Guardia Civil, you can fill in the blanks from there.

Anyway, this elite fighting man cooled his heels in a Spanish jail for three years until the judicial system got around to hearing his case. When it came up it was dropped with no explanation. That ends the story. No reason given, no apology, zippo. Just a kick in the ass out the door.

Fortunately for him, SEAL Teams are unbelievably close. His mates stood by him and held his billet open until he could return.

But this is what can happen in any nation in the world. You think we occasionally have crooked cops? We're pampered here, we don't know anything about corrupt police. Seriously, we don't.

So, could I be wrong about this American naval officer? Maybe. But I'd bet my next retirement check there is one hell of a lot more to this story than we'll ever know.