The family of Alex Griffith, the teen shot in the mouth last week by a policeman, yesterday joined with rights groups and activists to protest the delay in charging the lawman.
The demonstration was staged outside of Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, and saw activist Mark Benschop along with the teen and his mother, Marcel Griffith, seeking a meeting with the Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud. However, the Commissioner’s Personal Assistant informed that they have to go through a process.
“So I told him that it is only fair to come out and at least listen to her and offer some sort of word that may eventually comfort her (Marcel Griffith, the teen’s mother) with regards to the investigations,” said Benschop.
Crime Chief Leslie James told Stabroek News yesterday that investigators are finalising their report on the shooting. He acknowledged that “many have expressed concerns about the amount of time that the police are taking to investigate the shooting” but stressed that conducting a thorough investigation is the main aim of the force and a lot of work has to be done. He said that it makes no sense to rush and charge someone and when it goes before the courts there are errors.
Griffith was shot after being detained by a group of police officers in the East La Penitence Squatting Area last week Wednesday night for questioning about a robbery. He was beaten by the police and has identified a cadet officer, whose relative was the victim of the robbery, as the person who eventually shot him while playing Russian Roulette with him.
When asked about the ranks who were with the cadet officer when the child was shot, James said that “all of that is part of the investigation.” Those ranks were not put under close arrest
