-in inquiry testimony
Linden cameraman Vladimir Glasgow yesterday maintained that he was shot and wounded by police on July 18.
Commissioner Cecil Kennard yesterday questioned why he had not gotten a recording of his shooter. “The police are shooting at you. At the time you were shot, you had a camera in your hand. Did you take your camera to take a picture of what was going on there? They shooting at you?” Justice Kennard asked Glasgow, who returned before the inquiry into the shootings yesterday for cross-examination.
The witness explained that the point where nothing can be seen was at the time he was running from the scene after being shot.
“Is there …footage of the police shooting at you?” Justice Kennard asked again. “No, I did not stand to take …footage of him shooting at me,” Glasgow responded.
Asked why not, Glasgow said because the police were shooting consistently at the crowd, so he ran from the area for safety. He pointed out that the officer used a shotgun.
Commissioner KD Knight asked the witness whether he was taking videos immediately before being shot and received an affirmative answer. When asked if he saw the officer, Glasgow said “the officer cranked his rifle and opened fire”.
“Prior to being shot at, you could have taken a video image of the officer cranking his rifle?” Knight asked.
“At the time I was walking backwards to give myself more distance from the point where the police officers were… it was my first time in that situation,” Glasgow explained, saying he could not.
Audio
COI Hearing 17/10/12 – Vladimir Glasgow’s testimony
Earlier on, the witness was asked by attorney Peter Hugh, who is representing the Guyana Police Force, why the majority of his footage was focused on the ranks on the scene that day.
Glasgow explained that he did not have sufficient battery power to get the events in their entirety, so he captured what he thought was important.
When asked if he focused on the police because he expected them to fire, Glasgow said he did not know what to expect on July 18. He further stated that most of his footage is of the police since they had at that time already thrown teargas.
A video clip provided by Glasgow was also viewed by the commission. “This is a result of the people responding to what the police started. The people had a peaceful protest and the police started shooting at peaceful protestors. Firing teargas and live rounds and it’s not going to end here. It’s not going to end here,” a colleague of Glasgow and one of the protestors on July 18, identified as Gaspar, was recorded saying in the footage.
As he made these remarks, he pointed to a truck on fire behind him.
Under questioning by attorney Latchmie Rahmat, who is representing persons whose property was damaged on July 18, Glasgow said he did not know who the truck belonged to and he still has no knowledge of this.
“It was a chaos condition. Some people would say a cowboy town. It was an unstable region at the time. There was a battle between the law enforcement officers and the protestors,” Glasgow said, as he responding to questions posed by attorney Nigel Hughes, who is representing the interest of the family of the deceased.
The Commission of Inquiry was set up, among other things, to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the shooting to death of Allan Lewis, Ron Somerset, and Shemroy Bouyea and the injury of several others near the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge on July 18.
