A young policeman died yesterday after he was brutally stabbed by a man who then took his own life by stabbing himself and slitting his own throat.
Police Constable Antonio Dawson, 27, was fatally wounded while trying to arrest the man, who had kept him and other ranks at bay after they made attempts to subdue him near the Gafoors Complex at Houston, East Bank Demerara.
The man, suspected to have been under the influence of drugs, remained unidentified up to press time.
A police statement said the fatal encounter began around 9:45am, when police ranks on a marine patrol in the Demerara River acted on information and went to the Houston wharf, where they spotted the man acting in a suspicious manner.
The ranks subsequently approached him and attempted to conduct a search but he resisted and assaulted one of them.
Antonio Dawson
He proceeded to an area in the vicinity of the Gafoors Complex, where he was approached by ranks of a mobile police patrol, which had been called to give assistance.
Police said during efforts to detain him, the man pulled out a knife and stabbed Dawson to his neck, chest, and abdomen. The man then stabbed himself about his body and slit his own throat.
Dawson was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospi-tal, where he eventually succumbed while receiving treatment. His assailant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Dawson, who was attached to the Impact Base at the Brickdam Police Station, was a father of two.
‘A’ Division Comman-der Clifton Hickens lauded Dawson’s courage in taking the initiative in trying to arrest the man. “It’s unfortunate,” he said, while later noting that “[Dawson] was a brave, and he was always on the frontline.”
Varying quantities of cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy were found in the pants pockets of Dawson’s assailant. Hicken suggested that the man might have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack. “We don’t want to assume at this time but based on the information gathered it seems as if he may have been under the influence of drugs,” he noted.
Standoff
A witness to the confrontation between the police ranks and the unidentified man said despite the number of armed ranks on hand, they were unable to subdue the man.
“About six police who were armed surrounded de man. Four of them had guns, one had a piece of wood, and another had a steel rod. Everybody deh on they own itation and all of a sudden we see them crowd up. As soon as I see them pointing guns at the de man I run for cover,” the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Stabroek News.
He said while the officers surrounded him, the man braced himself to a car and refused to move. “They went there long, long, long. For about 30 minutes they deh there talking to the man and trying to arrest he and they couldn’t do anything,” he recalled.
“Is the one that decided to go in first and arrest he get juk up. He give he partner the gun and he went in and de man pull out this long nine inch knife and stab he up and then he stab he self in the chest and slit he own throat,” he added.
The eyewitness, who said he had never seen the man around the area, noted that when he was first confronted by the police the man had stood calmly and sipped on a cup of coffee he had bought earlier. “I don’t even know how that whole scene reach at that point so fast. I don’t even understand how so much armed police couldn’t arrest one man,” he said.
At Dawson’s Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara home, his wife voiced similar confusion at the turn of events.
“So much things you’d like to say that you can’t say. I can’t understand how he with other officers there and he get one stab, two stab, four stab and no one ain’t react to help him,” Dawson’s grieving wife told Stabroek News. “So much of them and they ain’t even fire one shot at this man and he stabbing their partner,” she added.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud visited Dawson’s home and offered his condolences to his family.
“I don’t recall in any unit that I have been charged with that I’ve had to do this and it takes you to draw on all of your facilities, to come out in situations like this and to either deliver a message or offer condolences to relatives of police who are killed in the line of duty. Yet still, it’s something that is unavoidable and we have to deal with it,” he said.
Persaud emphasised that Dawson did not act in his own interest but rather in the interest of all Guyanese. He added that the police force would continue to support the constable’s family throughout this period. He said too that all of Dawson’s colleagues would undergo counselling.
Additionally, the government also offered its condolences to Dawson’s family yesterday.
“While we acknowledge that this is indeed a difficult time for the family, we hope that comfort can be taken from the fact that he died not only as a guardian of our liberty but also as a true embodiment of the spirit of service to a cause greater than ourselves,” the President, Ministers and staff of the Ministry of the Presidency said in a condolence message that was released by the ministry.
“Our nation is grateful for the dedication, pride and service of Constable Dawson who risked his life to ensure the safety of our neighbourhoods and citizens,” the message added.
