There was confusion in the vicinity of Globe Yard at the corner of Church and Waterloo Streets just after 6 pm yesterday, when a special constable reportedly attempted to arrest a man who had allegedly snatched a gold chain minutes earlier on Regent Street.
During a fracas between the special constable and the robbery suspect, the constable’s gun went off and the bullet grazed the chin of 21-year-old Collin Lees who was standing a short distance away.
Lees was taken to the Georgetown Hospital for treatment while the 29-year-old suspect from Pouderoyen, was arrested and taken to the Brickdam Police Station.
It is unclear what actually transpired at the station, but just before 8 pm, the suspect arrived at the hospital with a gaping wound on his face. The medical personnel were told that he had attempted to escape from custody.
When Stabroek News arrived at the medical institution around 8.55 pm several armed ranks in bullet proof vests were standing around.
The suspect who was in handcuffs was being tended to by a doctor in the treatment room. Lees had not yet been treated and was sitting in the waiting area of the Accident and Emergency Room with a bloodstained towel on his shoulder. When this newspaper left some 45 minutes later he had just entered the treatment room for his wound to be treated.
There were different accounts of what exactly took place at Church Street. Lees, with blood visible on the right side of his chin said that he had been standing on Waterloo Street, near Globe Yard when he heard some commotion at the corner. The young man said that from what he observed some men where trying to get a man into a car trunk, but the man put up some resistance.
It was during this commotion, Lees said, that a gunshot rang out and before long he realized that he had been hit by a “stray bullet.” He recounted that the constable told him that the man had held his hand and that was how his gun had gone off. Lees said that the constable had taken him to the hospital but subsequently left.
Giving a different version of the episode, a police source said that the suspect who is a “known character,” stuck up a man at knife point at the corner of Regent and Wellington Streets and made off with his gold chain.
According to the source, the man then ran down towards Church Street and two special constables who witnessed the incident give chase in their vehicle. The constables reportedly caught up with the suspect near the defunct Esso gas station opposite Astor Cinema. While there, the source informed this newspaper that one of the constables who was armed and the suspect had a scuffle during which the firearm went off, in the process hitting Lees in the chin.
The suspect was taken to Brickdam Police Station and was placed to sit on a bench but according to the source the man lunged at a small window nearby with the intention of escaping but sustained a huge gash on his face in the process.
The source was adamant that the man was a robbery suspect and nothing else. However Lees and his relatives who were at the hospital said that the man had denied snatching any chain and had instead said that he had become the target of the police following a run-in he had with ranks some time back.
When this newspaper left, ranks were still there and the suspect was still in the treatment room. This newspaper was told that he had received about ten stitches for his injury.
