A MAN was killed yesterday morning by the police in ‘C’ Division as he attempted to drive out of the vigilance police station compound in a police vehicle.
Dead is 24-year-old Teon Maxwell, an unemployed father of a four-year-old girl. The man was, at the time of his death, being investigated for abusive and threatening behaviour and damage to property.
According to the man’s mother, on Friday night, he allegedly attempted to murder his wife and she, the mother of the now dead man, encouraged her daughter-in-law to file a police report.
However on Friday night, the police claimed to have had no vehicle to go in search of the young man.
The man allegedly sharpened a cutlass and two knives. Upon seeing this, the man’s mother called the police to come and pick up her son.
When the police arrived at the scene, the man was armed with a hammer, two knives and a cutlass and kept the police at bay by brandishing the offensive weapons.
The first party of police who responded to the report realised that they needed backup, given the behaviour of the man, and they requested same. Shortly after, two other patrols arrived.
The man kept evading the police but they finally managed to subdue him and he was taken to the police station.
According to divisional commander, Calvin Brutus, while at the police station, the ranks were escorting the young man into the station and before he could have been placed on the bench, he attacked two of the policemen who were guiding him to the detention area. One reportedly received injuries with a knife to the hands and the other to abdomen.
We were told that the police failed to carry out a proper search on the man’s person before escorting him to the station and as a consequence, he was able to conceal one of the two knives he had in his possession at the time of his arrest.
After inflicting injuries on the rank, the suspect reportedly got into the same police pickup which was used to escort him to the police station and attempted to drive out of the vigilance police station compound.
He however failed to properly navigate and collided with another police vehicle which was in the compound at the time. Police, by that time, opened fire in the direction of the vehicle and the man was fatally struck.
Both the suspect and the injured policemen were escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital where they were examined by doctors. The suspect was pronounced dead on arrival.
The matter is presently under investigation even as the police await a post-mortem examination to be performed on the remains of the deceased.
