Cop suspended for kissing woman instead of fining her for breaking COVID curfew

In a bizarre incident, a police officer in Peru has been suspended after kissing a woman, when instead he was supposed to fine her for breach of COVID curfew.

In a CCTV video footage that has now gone viral, the officer can be seen stopping the woman to fine her for breaking COVID curfew in Lima. The woman tries to get out of paying the fine by persuading the cop to swap the penalty for a kiss. The CCTV footage shows the moment he locked lips with the woman.

The woman can be seen getting very close to the officer as he starts to charge her with a fine, but after a few seconds of hesitation, the officer seemed to change his mind as he proceeds to kiss her.

The woman was intercepted by the police officer in Malecon de la Marina, known as Miraflores Boardwalk. The officer, whose identity is not known, was forced to temporarily leave his job amid an ongoing investigation carried out by authorities in the Peruvian capital Lima, reported Daily Mail.

"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," Ibero Rodriguez, in charge of citizen security for the district, was quoted telling by local reports. 

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."

Peru has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America, with more than 1.2 million cases and more than 44,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.