Quason Paul, who claims he was hit by a stray bullet from the police while helping them chase bandits, has undergone surgery on his injured right leg.
Paul, 22, of Norton Street, was unable to speak yesterday due to the excruciating pain from the surgery and during a visit to the hospital by this newspaper a nurse explained that he had just received an injection to ease the pain.
When Stabroek News contacted Police Public Relations Officer Ivelaw Whittaker about Paul’s claim, he said that the press release made by the force was an official statement and the police will stand by it.
Police, in a press statement, had said that at 1:30 am on Christmas Day, three persons were walking along Camp Street when they were robbed by three men, one of whom was armed with a weapon. One of the men and Paul, police added, gave chase, which led to a gunman firing and hitting Paul. A mobile police patrol alerted by the gunfire later engaged the bandits, one of whom was shot. He remains in custody while his two accomplices were at-large up to press time yesterday.
But Paul on Wednesday said he and other friends were leaving a gathering at the City Mall when one of them decided to go to the bank and was pounced upon by robbers. He said that was only one person who was at the bank who was robbed and he and two others gave chase behind the bandits. He added that afterward police ranks invited them to sit at the back seat of the police van and they continued the chase, until they spotted the men about to jump a fence.
At this point, he said, they disembarked the vehicle and one of the men pulled out a gun and the police started to fire shots and a stray bullet caught him in the leg.
