Philipsburg:--- A judge approved the proposal of the Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte with regards to a case of severe police brutality. According to victim's Attorney Brenda Brooks, a Guyanese national was severely beaten, got his jaw broken, and bitten several times by a police dog on Friday night by six police officers.
Brooks said that after she met with her client on Saturday and saw his injuries she immediately contacted Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos and a judge in the Court of First Instance who ordered that she be given the file on the case regarding her client on Monday. Brooks said it appears as though her client was driving through a traffic diversion somewhere in Sucker Garden and he did not see police officers standing in the area conducting a traffic control. Attorney Brooks said that the police are claiming that the man hit a female police officer on her arm while driving through the diversion. Brooks said according to her client the police began following him and stopped him and the man panicked because he did not have his passport on him with his visa inside. According to Attorney Brooks her client got out of his vehicle and ran in the bushes and the police immediately loose the police dog on him and when the dog started to bite him he surrendered. Brooks said her client told her that even though he surrendered the police beat him severely and broke his jaw. "What is amazing about all of this is that the police took the man to the emergency room and while there an officer spoke to the doctors and told them that he fell down and that was how his jaw got broken."
Brooks said that the judge agreed that the case must be investigated by an independent body which is the Landsrecherche as suggested by the Chief of Police Peter de Witte to the Prosecutor's office.
In an invited comment, Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte said that the case was brought to his attention on Saturday and he advised the Prosecutor's office to have the matter be investigated by the Landsrecherche for the sake of transparency because the injuries the man suffered are serious.
Police officers injured during control/ suspect arrested.
During a general control carried out by police on Friday November 16th, one female police officer was hit and injured by a vehicle. The general control was taking place at approximately 08:30 p.m. at the crossing of Gladiola road and L.B. Scot road at the Jose Lake Sr. Ballpark. A female officer had given the driver of a private vehicle with license plate 320 ZBB 971 a stop sign and instructed him to enter the parking lot of the ball park to be controlled. Instead cooperating with officer and following the orders she had given him the driver increased his speed and drove the car towards the officer. The officer jumped aside to avoid being hit by the vehicle, however, she was struck on her lower part of her right arm by the outer rear-view mirror. The driver did not stop and continued fleeing from the scene. A police patrol and K-9 patrol chased the suspect vehicle through the neighborhood. At some point the suspect jumped out of the still moving vehicle and took off running. After a short search the police K-9 the suspect was located hiding in the thick bushes in the Betty's Estate area. The police dog was sent in and the suspect was taken out of the bushes. The suspect however continued to resist against the arresting officers. The suspect was then over powered by the officers and taken to the Philipsburg Police Station. At the police station the suspect with initials R.L. (36) from Guyana was treated by paramedics for the injuries he had suffered while resisting his arrest. The female officer was taken to the Sint Maarten Medical Center for treatment where she later learnt that she had suffered a fracture to her right lower arm. The vehicle in question was confiscated and the suspect remains in custody for further investigation.
KPSM Police Report
