Frederick Samuels, the man who fatally stabbed a policeman and then took his own life last Friday, was known to be mentally unstable and a drug addict, family members said last evening.
Samuels, 41, of Buxton, East Coast Demerara, fatally stabbed Constable Antonio Dawson, 27, of Good Intent, West Bank Demerara, who had responded to a call to assist in apprehending him.
The confrontation, in the vicinity of the Gafoors Complex at Houston, East Bank Demerara, occurred after Samuels had earlier assaulted another police rank who had attempted to search him.
Dawson had joined another patrol unit at the scene, where they surrounded Samuels and a standoff ensued. After they failed to get the man to surrender, Dawson handed over his weapon to one of his colleagues and took it upon himself to approach the man unarmed and try to apprehend him.
Samuels stabbed Dawson some five times then stabbed himself in his chest and slit his throat. Dawson was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds. Police said varying quantities of cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy were found in the pants pockets of Samuels afterward.
While Samuels was identified by the police, his family said that they have not identified the body as yet.
Family members, who asked not to be named, told Stabroek News last evening that they had not seen the man for some time. His sister said that the last time she saw Samuels was sometime last year but she did not talk to him as he never was on speaking terms with the other family members.
They said the man was known to be mentally unstable.
Several neighbours also said the same of Samuels, whom they described as a drug addict. They said he would do strange things, such as raid the graveyard of bones. They said they were not aware of where he would stay but they would often see him around the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, Neville Dawson, the father of the slain constable, believes that his son approached Samuels while unarmed in order to avoid an incident that could have led to him being prosecuted. The senior Dawson, who was in the Guyana Defence Force for 18 years, is convinced that his son was following the current Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to his detriment. “That’s why he died.
He was following the orders and that’s why he gave his partner the gun and tried to apprehend the man unarmed. I don’t know if he knew he had a knife or he just didn’t think the man would’ve reacted like that but that’s why he dead,” Neville told Stabroek News yesterday.
He said another reason why his son was reluctant to use necessary force was because his brother, who was also police officer, was prosecuted and jailed for seven years after he shot a man twice in his leg. “He knew what happened to his brother and I guess that made him reluctant to use excessive force to bring the man down,” he reasoned.
He suggested that the police force review the SOPs and stop believing the public over police officers.
“They always believe the civilians over the officers and they have to stop that. They have to stop being so hard on them,” he said.
He added that he is still questioning how his son was killed in front of a patrol of officers and the perpetrator still had ample time to then kill himself.
Avoidable situation
Meanwhile, a police source stated that the officers in general need to be trained better, especially in situations such as Friday’s confrontation, which could have be wholly avoided.
“That was an entire situation that I am convinced could have been avoided. I can’t understand how so many officers are there and yet one of them ended up dying. With so many of them surrounding the man, you would like to think that they would have options to take him down together without having to apply lethal force,” he said.
“It’s only fair that the Guyanese citizens will respond emotionally to the situation and say that they should’ve shot the man but looking at it from a logical perspective.
There was no reason why five or so officers would have any problem apprehending a man, even if he was armed with a knife,” he added.
He said members of the police force need better training in skills that will help them protect themselves and citizens. He also questioned why the rank on duty was not wearing a bullet proof vest, which could have prevented him from suffering serious stab wounds.
“We don’t want to blame them at this point in time for what happened, but everyone needs to look at this and use it as a lesson to learn to prevent something of the sort from happening again,” he said, while adding that the SOPs need to be looked at and regularised.
