Mob holds Mexican police hostage over traffic injuries

MEXICO CITY - A Mexican crowd took four police officers hostage briefly on Saturday, demanding that the force pay the medical expenses of a man who lost an eye when his car collided with a police vehicle.

About 60 of the man's friends and family members in San Bartolome near Mexico City surrounded three police cruisers to protest the handling of the car wreck earlier in the week, said police spokesman Victor Palma.

They released the officers when police authorities agreed to pay the medical expenses of a 20-year-old San Bartolome resident who was injured in the collision.

The incident occurred at a time when many Mexicans are growing increasingly concerned about vigilante justice in the country, where police are viewed as corrupt or inept.

A mob in Mexico City burned alive two plainclothes federal agents and wounded a third, in a confrontation that was being broadcast live on television long before the riot police reached the scene.

President Vicente Fox responded by firing several top law officials, including Mexico City's police chief, and blaming the municipal government for tolerating vigilantism.