…to appear at Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court on Friday

The Guyana Police Force, acting of legal advice, has advised that Attorney-at-law Ryan Crawford is to be charged for committing five offences following his expletive-laden tirade last Thursday against a traffic rank.

The offences are prohibition of tinted glass, failure to produce driver’s licence,driving an unfit motor vehicle,use of obscene language and riotous behaviour.

Police said the attorney-at-Law will make his appearance at the Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

On September 13, 2018, Crawford was travelling along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) Public Road, when he was stopped for a routine check of his driver’s documents by a rank on duty.

This did not sit well with the lawman as a video recorded by the traffic rank, soon surfaced on social media showing Crawford verbally abusing the officer while seated in his car.
In the some four minutes of his profanity-laced rant, Crawford repeatedly asked the policeman why he was stopped and made it clear that he was not going to comply when asked to produce his driver’s licence.

He was also asked to wind up his windows for a test of the tint level on his vehicle, but refused to do so unless he was given a legitimate reason by the rank as to why he was pulled over.

In his defiance, the lawyer stated: “you can go and tell each and every one of the commanders, the President and the Vice-President, you go and tell whoever you want…”
In a terse statement subsequent to Crawford’s tirade, the police indicated that Commander of “C” Division, Senior Superintendent Calvin Brutus has caused an investigation to commence in respect to the incident.

Then on Saturday, the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Guyana, though imploring its members to uphold the noble profession, fell short of publicly reprimanding its member.
“We trust that the said investigation will include the circumstances surrounding the recording, publication and sharing of the video,” the Bar Council stated, even as it outlined the legal grounds upon which a motorist can be stopped by a uniformed police officer.

Since Crawford’s behaviour became public knowledge, the uploaded video has been viewed thousands of times with hundreds of shares, including the surfacing of social media memes and spoof videos.

Scores of public citizens and the well-known in society have also taken to the platform and continue to share differing views on the matter, sparking some level of debate.