A 21-year-old mini-bus conductress and her father, a minibus driver, say they were assaulted by policemen last evening after the bus ‘jammed’ a policeman in plain clothes, causing his beer to fall.
Victorana Ramsay, 21, of Barnwell North was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital for treatment after reportedly suffering a panic attack while her father, Victor Ramsay was taken to the Brickdam police station.
According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred at the corner of Lombard and Hadfield streets, when the driver was turning sometime before 7pm. She said that the vehicle apparently jammed the policeman and the bottle of beer he was holding fell. She said that an argument erupted between the policeman and the driver and the law enforcement official opened the door, “scramble” Ramsay and started beating him. The eyewitness said that the policeman was under the influence of alcohol and he choked Ramsay and pulled a gun on him.
As a large number of persons gathered, the eyewitness said, the policeman called for backup and some more policemen came in a vehicle and motorcycle. Victorana, according to the eyewitness, got between her father and the policeman and told him that if he wanted to hit her father, he would have to hit her first.
When the other policemen arrived, one told Victorana to move and she refused, the eyewitness said. She said that the uniformed policeman on the motorcycle, CE 4557, held on to Victorana and ‘chucked’ her to the ground. He reportedly claimed that she had scraped and bitten him. According to the eyewitness, when the other ranks arrived, Ramsay and his daughter were dumped into the back of the vehicle and taken to the Brickdam Police station.
A close relative of Victorana said that the police ranks told Victorana that she would be locked up at the East La Penitence police station and she suffered a panic attack, breathing in gasps. According to another relative, some of the ranks were saying to “spray she with pepper spray”. However, they later took her to the hospital for treatment.
Another of Ramsay’s daughters said that he was at the Brickdam Police Station but when she went there “dem saying that they nah get daddy there”. She said that she was told that he was beaten but it was unclear to what extent. “They ain’t allowing he to see nobody”, she said. According to the relatives, they were told that both Ramsay and Victorana would be locked up.
A number of police ranks, both uniformed and in civilian clothes and including the one who reportedly assaulted Ramsay were at the hospital last evening. They spoke with Victorana but relatives cautioned her not to say anything and there was a verbal exchange between one relative and a rank. A little while later, after the eyewitness and relative had spoken to this newspaper, a woman said to be Ramsay’s wife arrived and spoke to the rank accused of hitting Ramsay. After she was told that it was the rank who assaulted Ramsay, she berated her relatives and said that the matter should have been sorted out. She related some of what she understood to have occurred but the eyewitness and other relatives interjected and repeated what had happened and said if they had wanted the matter to be sorted out; it should not have been allowed to escalate they way it had. They also argued about whether they should have told the media about the incident.
