I am in a rather somber mood as I am writing this article. The reason for my ‘down in the dumps’ spirit is due to some really troubling news.
A 16 year old Immaculate Conception High School student was gunned down on Tuesday night (March 20th 2012). The part of this story that really tears me up inside is that the young lady was killed allegedly by the police.
According to the mother, the child was preparing to sit 8 CSEC subjects, in the coming exam season.
Residents claim that a car was being chased by the police. The car then stopped on Norman Lane in Whitfield Town where a birthday party was in session. When the car stopped, the police then started shooting at the car from behind. They then, drove in front of the car and continued shooting.
I live in the community where this incident took place and while I was not a witness to the incident, I did, however manage to see the car that was shot up and there were indeed bullet holes at the back and front of the car.
While I would like to give the police officers the benefit of the doubt, the fact that there bullet holes all over the car force me to believe that the police were careless on the operation. I am thinking, you are chasing a car, how about shooting the wheel to slow the car down, why shoot at the glass?
Oh yea, it was a shootout. This leads to my next question, if the incident was a shootout, how is it that no police officer got shot. And this is the case almost every time someone is killed by the police; there is always a shootout and no police is ever injured.
Another question I need answered is why most are if not all police shootings are fatal. You hardly ever hear of a case where an alleged criminal is shot by the police and taken to the hospital and then released in police custody.
It is always a case where someone is shot by the police and die most time on the spot. What are these police officer being trained to do at Twickenham Park? Are they trained assassins?
I am sure the Police Commissioner would say that majority of the Police in the force are ‘good cops’. But for the rest of Jamaica, the bad cops show their colours so often; we are inclined to believe that the commissioner the force needs cleansing.
My heart bleeds for the mother of that child. See residents’ reactions here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsKAkoutEmA&feature=share
