Still searching for answers he reasoned that it might just be a
case of mistaken identity.
“But even so …”
According to the Trincity prisons officer, at the time of the incident
he was standing at the back of the crowd.
“Machel Montano and Xtatik came on stage to perform and the
crowd surged forward so I moved way down to the back to get away
from the madness,” he further disclosed.
He recalled to Mirror the events, which have left him shaken and
thanking his lucky stars that he was not shot and killed.
He said it was around 2.30 Sunday morning, with the fete in full
swing when armed officers out nowhere, picked on him.
“My batch and I were standing away from the crowd taking in
the music of Xtatik when I felt a sudden blow to my lower back.
“I spun around only to realise it was a man dressed in police
uniform armed with a gun who had hit me.”
He said in the “blink of an eye”, he was surrounded
by a group of other uniformed officers.
“Feeling it was a case of mistaken identity I quickly pulled
out my Prisons Service ID and identified myself to the cops.”
His action seemingly irritated the officers.
“One of them grabbed my ID, looked at it and slapped me twice
in the face as he said he cared nothing about us because prisons
officers does smoke a lot of weed,” he went on to explain.
“I continued to identify myself, but they just kept on bullying
me. They put their hands in my pocket, pulled my jersey over my
face and make me put my hands up in the air ...”
He said they eventually threw his ID on the ground and left.
“That ordeal left me traumatised and in total shock. To make
bad matters worse, my $100 bill was gone.”
He said after he pulled himself together, he made a report to the
police inspector who was identified as the man in charge of the
security at the concert.
“He instructed the corporal on duty to assist me in identifying
the men who assaulted me.”
But he was soon to find out that it was not all that easy.
He further stated: “He did go with me but when I pointed out
one of the officers to him, he told me that too big for him and
I should report to the Carenage Police Station.”
The PO said that was another shock.
“I didn’t know where the station was and had to drive
around for a while until I finally located it and PC Phillip took
my report.”
He said the ordeal left with persistent headaches and backaches.
“I ended up going to the Port of Spain General Hospital where
I got medication.”
“That experience was new to me and it hurt more because I
did nothing. I was not misbehaving or anything; why did they act
this way towards me.”
A report has also been sent to the ombudsman. |
