Following the widespread circulation of a video showing Police Officers violently restraining a member of the public, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is claiming that the police actions including violently kicking the citizen to the head were acts of self-defence.
A statement released by the police said that on Sunday afternoon ranks of a mobile police patrol responded to a report of robbery with aggravation committed on a man in the Stabroek Market area.
The ranks arrested a male suspect and placed him in the police vehicle, during which time he became aggressive and attacked the ranks who were forced to defend themselves.
This led to a physical confrontation between the suspect and the police, part of which has been circulating on social media. The police added that the suspect was eventually subdued and taken to the Brickdam Police Station where he was identified by the victim as being one of the men who had robbed him of a Samsung smartphone and $25,000. The video of the confrontation shows the suspect lashing out at a rank who is holding him by the shirt. He connects with the right arm of the rank detaining him and attempts to escape custody before being detained by three ranks and kicked several times about the head by one rank while being restrained by two others.
When the suspect is returned to the vehicle he appears to be in and out of consciousness and his blood is plainly visible on the road. The police have however stated that he has refused medical attention while the “injured police ranks were treated at the GPHC.” The Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is investigating the matter and has asked that anyone who might have witnessed the incident, between the suspect and the members of the Force, to make contact with the Officer in charge of the Police OPR on Telephone number 227-1926 or the Commander of the Regional Police Division on 226-1389.
Meanwhile Shadow Minister of Home Affairs Geeta Chandan Edmond has calling on the force to “invite an independent assessment of this incident and allow the facts to guide consequences, wherever they may fall.”
According to the former Magistrate this incident is “another sordid display of unprofessional conduct.”
“I continue to be appalled and revolted by the complete washing away of any semblance of consequences for law men and women who manifest little regard for the laws of this country. No one is above the law and the uniformed ranks are not exempted from respecting the law,” Chandan Edmond declared.
