TWENTY-one-year-old Phillip Rodney, of Buxton Sideline Dam, was yesterday shot in the left side buttocks after allegedly attacking a uniformed police rank with a scissors.Rodney and three other men, one a Buxtonian like him and two from Mon Repos, had earlier eluded police ranks at Mahaicony, where they were caught trying to bundle two stolen goats into the trunk of a Toyota 212 motorcar, PKK 831.
The police were alerted by persons from the Mahaicony area of the men’s presence in the village, and what they were attempting to do. They were given the description of the car, and its registration number, and as they headed in the general direction of where the goat thieves were last seen, they encountered them on the way.
The police signalled the driver of the vehicle to pull the car over, which he did, and to pop the trunk.
Immediately after popping the trunk of the car, the four men made a run for it. But even though the police were hot on the men’s tail, they eventually lost them.
As the police were heading back to the station, however, they spotted the men crossing a bridge some distance away, and immediately resumed up the chase to intercept them. But again, the men made a dash for it, running in different directions in an attempt to frustrate the police.
One police rank who was closing in on one of the fleeing suspects, was reportedly forced to resort to the use of force when he pulled a scissors on him.
He was shot to the buttocks in the process, while the other three men were arrested without incident.
Up to late last evening, the police were not able to ascertain who the stolen goats belong to, and, perforce, had to impound them at a police facility on the upper East Coast.
Up to late last evening also, the shot suspect was being held under guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital, while his three accomplices were still in police custody assisting with investigations.
Over the past few months, there have been several instances where wandering animals were bundled into vehicles and taken away by unknown persons.
In most of the cases, the animals were stolen by persons who live very far away from where the grazing or wandering animals and their owners actually reside. There are matters of this nature engaging the courts in at least two police divisions, namely Divisions ‘B’ and ‘D’.