Mexican Teen Vanishes After Being Beaten, Arrested by Police

A 17-year-old high school student beaten up by Mexico City police officers and stuffed into the back of a police car has been missing since the incident on January 23, and his father says he now fears the worst.

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Marco Antonio Sanchez Flores, a student at National High School Number 8, was accosted by at least four officers, according to unconfirmed reports. 

A fan of art and museums and a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, Marco was with his friend Roberto on January 23 when a graffiti mural caught their eye.

According to Roberto, Marco took out his camera and asked a passerby to pose for a picture alongside the painting. Police officers standing nearby witnessed the exchange and accused Marco of trying to rob the third party, who has not been identified. 

When the police officers refused to accept Marco's version of events, the teenager fled to a nearby bus station. When the officers caught up with Marco, they physically assaulted him then placed him under arrest.

Roberto asked to be placed under arrest alongside Marco, but the officers refused. They told him instead to meet his friend at the Public Ministry in Azcapotzalco, one of Mexico City's northern districts, but Marco never arrived.

Marco's relatives tried another police station, but officers were reluctant to help. They called several police cars and one said Marco had already been released, but didn't specify from where or by whom.   

Marco's father, Marco Antonio Sanchez Chavez, said: "I want them to hand over my son... I know they have their methods; he was brutally beaten. He was hit on the face with a helmet at the Metrobus station, they are scoundrels."

The Anti-kidnap Prosecutor's Office in Mexico City summoned Marco's parents to a meeting Saturday, but declared they still don't know where Marco is.

The same authorities had said on Friday that they had already arrested the officers responsible, but refused to give their names or confirm how many were involved.

"We need to know the names of these agents, these criminals in uniform," said Marco's father. "That's what we're worried about, because if he was never taken to the station it means they flew over the handle; he was beaten so badly, they didn't take him. Who knows where he was thrown away?"

Police officers and military personnel in Mexico have been involved in several cases of missing people, including the disappearing of 43 rural students in Guerrero in 2014. More than 34,000 people are currently listed as missing in Mexico.