Accused in illegal guns case escapes from hospital

Dexroy Brown, who was under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital, escaped early yesterday morning while receiving treatment.

Brown, 21, of Waterloo Street was admitted to the Male Surgical Ward of the institution last Thursday.

Brown was allegedly found with a handgun while being in the company of another man at Plum Park, Sophia. Police in a release had said that he was shot to his leg during the arrest.

Brown was to be charged yesterday along with his co-accused David Bernard.

According to a source, Brown escaped shortly before 6 am yesterday. The source said it was not clear if he was handcuffed at the time. “The police need to ensure that all the prisoners are shackled to their beds when they come to the hospital. This guy just walked out of here. I don’t even think he was handcuffed or anything. This is a very scary situation because what if he had grabbed the police officer’s gun and started shooting?” the source questioned.

Brown is the third prisoner to have escaped while under police guard at the GPH in recent months. In January, Delon Abrams, a prisoner had escaped after overpowering a police guard and relieving him of his weapon. An officer, Seburn Elias was fatally shot after he got into a scuffle with Abrams. Also in November of last year, 19-year-old Edgar Blackman of Tucville was admitted to the institution with injuries to the head. He had allegedly robbed a woman in Sophia and was caught by residents and badly beaten.

While seeking medical attention, Blackman managed to escape despite being shot at several times by a police officer.

Last year, in an interview with this newspaper Chief Executive Officer of the hospital Michael Khan had said that the hospital administration was never notified by police officers when a patient is under police guard. He was quoted as saying that “they [the police] come with the prisoner and we notice them in the ward. We are not officially notified.”