…as cop fires at fleeing thief
A pregnant fruit vendor was shot in the back yesterday morning by a plain clothes policeman pursuing an alleged cellular phone snatcher on crowded Water Street.
During the chase, the policeman reportedly discharged two shots at the man, both of which missed him. The second bullet wounded Earlene Morgan in the right side of her back.
Morgan, 20, of Friendship, East Coast Demerara was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), treated and admitted to the Female Surgical Ward.
She appeared to be in a stable condition when Stabroek News visited yesterday.
The injured woman told this newspaper that she sells fruits on Water Street. Morgan was sitting at her fruit stall when she saw a man running towards her. It was later, she said, that she found out the man was accused of stealing.
The woman who is five months pregnant believes that the policeman should not have fired as the attacker was just a short distance from him and the area was crowded.
Another vendor, who operates just in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC] at the Stabroek Market area, recounted to this newspaper at the scene that a man had snatched a schoolgirl’s cellular phone shortly after 9 am. The girl, according to the vendor, raised an alarm and a police officer in civilian clothing who was in the area at the time responded. Carolyn Lewis, another Water Street fruit vendor, said she heard the two gunshots.
“I de sitting here selling when I hear the gunshots and when I look I see people running up de road [Water Street] is lil after someone come runnin’ tellin’ me that is meh niece [Morgan] get shoot,” Lewis said. “De second bullet that de policeman fire hit a drum and de man he de chasing get away.”
Others in the area where the shooting occurred were reluctant to speak when approached by this newspaper. Several persons, speaking anonymously, recalled hearing two gunshots.
Meanwhile, police in a press statement yesterday afternoon told a slightly different version of the Water Street incident.
According to them, the plain clothes policeman observed a man snatch a cellular phone from a female student and ride away with it on a bicycle in the Stabroek Market area. The policeman pursued the suspect and subsequently confronted him on Water Street.
During efforts to arrest the suspect, police said, he pulled out a knife and attacked the policeman. This, the release said, caused the rank to “resort to the use of force” and he discharged a round from his service revolver at his attacker’s foot. The bullet hit the ground, rebounded and “accidentally” hit Morgan “to her buttocks”.
The man, police further reported, was able to escape as the policeman went to the assistance of the injured woman.
This is the second incident in less than a week where police have opened fire on a fleeing suspect in a crowded city area.
Last Saturday, shoppers in the Stabroek Market area scampered for cover when police fired shots at a fleeing man who was earlier caught with a toy gun. Stabroek News had been told that members of the City Constabulary found the man with a toy gun and handed him over to the police. While in police custody the man attempted to escape by running between buses and people in the crowded area. Two uniformed officers gave chase and fired shots. At the time no one could say if the shots were fired at the man or in the air but persons expressed disappointment with the police for discharging rounds in the busy downtown area.
Both incidents have raised questions about the police’s decision to use gunfire in situations where suspects are fleeing in locations crowded with civilians.
