COMMISSIONER of Police (ag), Seelall Persaud said, yesterday, that reports on the high speed chase and subsequent shooting of Constable Leroy English on Wednesday morning are conflicting and contradictory.

When asked to comment on the fact that a police constable was shot by another rank, Seelall said initial reports coming to him do not suggest that English was shot by another rank, and as such an in-depth investigation is ongoing.

Reports on the high speed chase and subsequent shooting of Constable Leroy English on Wednesday morning are conflicting and contradictory – Seelall Persaud

Persaud said that statements will have to be taken from everyone involved in the matter.

Ask to comment on the standard procedures for stopping and searching vehicles and persons, the Commissioner said that these are clear.

The law, according to Seelall, allows for the police to stop and search anyone on reasonable suspicion, once they are operating within the borders of Guyana.

On the question of vehicles travelling around the country with tinted windows, the Commissioner believes that there is room for improvement with respect to the enforcement of the law concerning tinted windows.

On Wednesday morning, Constable Leroy English was reportedly shot by Police Constable Jeffers, both of whom were chasing the car of a businessman which was being driven by his son.

The police reportedly told their superiors that they were chasing the car without the use of fire power, while the businessman’s son claimed that gunfire came from the cars chasing him, as they drove from the West Bank of Demerara onto the East Bank of Demerara.

The injured police rank was reportedly shot while all three vehicles involved in the chase came to a stop at a location on the East Bank and were joined by a vehicle driven by the businessman.

Meanwhile this publication, in doing its background checks on the businessman, found that he was deported from Guyana in 2010, something that local law enforcement received high praise for from Brazilian authorities who had the man listed as one of their most wanted persons for money laundering and drug trafficking activities.
The man, who operates a business in the city, was first arrested by local police on suspicion of being in possession of a forged Guyanese birth certificate, something he denied through his lawyers.

(By Leroy Smith)