Police investigating conflicting reports about attack on CPG

CONFLICTING reports and swirling allegations have surfaced as Police in Linden investigate an incident in which members of Amelia’s Ward Community Policing Group (CPG) were, allegedly, attacked early Monday morning by a gang of seven men.

Haimchand Ramnanan

The CPG said a glass door at a member’s house was broken and the windscreen of their patrol car smashed following the arrest of an 18-year-old, who was injured in the melee.

Dissatisfied with how their report was handled by the Police, the newly formed CPG said, to add insult to injury, two of their number were arrested and put in custody while the teen was not detained.

The CPG said assistance was unsuccessfully sought from Mackenzie Police and, after getting no response, the gang pursued them and damaged their motor vehicle while the teenager they had apprehended earlier was taken to Mackenzie Hospital.

However, Officer-in-Charge of ‘E’ and ‘F’ Division, Superintendent Timmerman questioned why, if members of the CPG were able to capture the young man, he, after being beaten, was not taken to Mackenzie Police Station.

The CPG car used in patrol with broken windscreen

Timmerman said Keon Griffith claimed he was alone at the time when confronted by the CPG who beat him with a piece of wood.

The senior Police Officer maintained that, even if someone is suspected to have committed a crime, blows should not be inflicted on the person.

He also pointed out that the CPG seemed not to be able to identify the gang members.

A CPG member, Mukesh (only name stated) said, after they started patrolling, around 01:00 h, they saw two men ran into some bushes and went after them.

He said, as they approached the duo, they fled through ‘Lovers’ Lane’ at the back of Habitat Housing Scheme, also in Amelia’s Ward, but one was held and taken back to the patrol vehicle.

Then a taxi stopped and seven men disembarked, leading the attack which led to the breaking of the car windscreen and the glass door at the home of Haimchand Ramnanan, at Lot 1984 Central Amelia’s Ward.

Mukesh denied that any of them struck the teen who suffered injury and said he must have been hurt in the fracas.

The broken front glass door at Ramnanan’s home

Another member of the CPG, who did not give his name, said he called 911 when they were being assailed but the woman who answered said she was at Wismar Police Station and referred the caller to Mackenzie Police Station.

One other member, also unnamed, said he, too, telephoned the Police about 02:00 h and was interrogated about what occurred.

He said he declined to give a statement on the phone and ended the call after stating that they needed back-up from Mackenzie Police.