Police shooting leaves Linden man with life threatening injuries

A Linden man sustained life-threatening injuries after he was shot by police last week.

Glen McCurdy, who is expected to be disabled due to the injuries, was unable to stand when he was taken yesterday to the courtroom of Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in Georgetown, where he was read the charge that on June 25, at Omai Landing, he had 320 grammes of cannabis in his possession for the trafficking.

McCurdy denied the charge.

“I can’t walk because a police from ‘F’ Division shoot me,” he said, when the magistrate inquired about his condition.

Glen McCurdy

Police Prosecutor Arvin Moore told the court that on the day in question, the police were patrolling the area and saw McCurdy with a bag on his back, acting in a suspicious manner. He added that as the police approached the man, he took out a chopper and began to advance towards the police. According to Moore, the police began to step away from the defendant and warned him but he kept advancing, resulting in the police shooting him in his abdomen.

The cannabis was later found in the bag.

Attorney Glenn Hanoman, who represented McCurdy, 27, of Canvas City, Wismar, Linden, told the court a different story and said the charge against his client had been trumped up. He said the narcotics mentioned in the charge were only lodged at the police station days after the shooting occurred, while the officer who shot McCurdy was yet to face sanction.

According to Hanoman, McCurdy had been shot with a high-powered weapon, resulting in some of his intestines exiting his body along with the bullet.

A medical report that was done for McCurdy after treatment at the Linden Hospital Complex stated that he suffered abdominal trauma caused by a gunshot wound and that his small intestines had been outside of his abdominal cavity. It also stated that the injuries were “life threatening” and would “leave disability.” It noted that McCurdy had a “very poor prognosis” and that complications were to be expected after surgical intervention, if successful.

Hanoman added that McCurdy, who is now a single parent of one child after the child’s mother died two months ago from septicemia (blood poisoning), ought to be granted bail given his medical condition.

The attorney noted that it is his family’s fear that McCurdy will also develop septicemia, since he was ordered to return to the hospital every day to dress his wounds. This, Hanoman noted, had not been done since he was taken into custody on Tuesday. He added that McCurdy was forced to lay on the concrete while in custody.

Moore objected to bail being granted, while saying that there were no special reasons presented by the attorney in relation to the case.

The Chief Magistrate, who refused bail, noted that the prison has medical personnel and that McCurdy could also be admitted at the Georgetown Public Hospital under police guard, if necessary.

The prosecutor was ordered by the Chief Magistrate to ensure that the file was completed by the next court date, which is July 18, when the matter will be heard at the Mahdia Magistrate’s Court.