Dangriga resident says he was robbed of $6,000 after he was brutalized by the police

Alan Cruz

On the heels of one allegation of police brutality in Belmopan, there is another claim of excessive use of force by the police. This time around, a Dangriga resident says that he was assaulted by officers on Tuesday night in Belize City. Alan Cruz claims that he was waiting to purchase a vehicle some five blocks from the bus terminal on West Collet Canal when he was accosted by several officers. He was beaten then taken to a substation where the brutality continued. But it wasn’t until after intervention by a female officer from his hometown that he alleges he was taken in a pickup truck and dumped in a hotspot in the City. But his nightmare continued because moments later, he was robbed by a group of men and relieved of his cell phone, wallet and a backpack containing some six thousand dollars, which was to be used to purchase the vehicle. The aspiring taxi-driver has been working along with a mission out of LA installing swing sets and monkey bars at various schools in Dangriga and had just travelled with the group to the international airport for their departure back to the U.S.  Cruz was at our studios early this morning as he had nowhere to go. He recounted for us the terrifying series of events.

Alan Cruz, Alleges Police Brutality

“The police came and they didn’t ask questions to anybody; they just started grabbing people. They pulled me to the side, dehn punch me to mi face…mi mouth still di hurt, mi neck the hurt; right yah so after dehn throw me on the ground and dehn start beat me up. Di man dehn come and search my bag and when dehn find all the money and thing, dehn ask weh I get this money from. So I explained to them that I work with some white people weh di do a charitable thing for the country; dehn di help the kids dehn and dehn di install all these swing sets and monkey bars for the kids and with them I work with. I even give them the phone number for the people to call them immediately. Dehn just have to call and the people wah answer and tell them exactly that they give me the money and how much money dehn give me. So dehn ker me dah di station; dehn keep on brutalizing me and I tell them I will report this because this noh right…they are supposed to help people; noh rob people and beat people. So the guy come and stone money ina mi face.  When I tell them that I was gonna report this, they grabbed their batons and start whapping me; up to right now, my knee hurt. And then dehn just come, two or three of them throw me ina di car and then dehn ker me dah wah lee alley, I believe it’s Raccoon Street area and dehn throw me ina di street. And I had my backpack and everything in there. About fifteen minutes later, some other guys came and dehn saw me obviously in the street hurt and injured and I couldn’t get up and I couldn’t walk and so they took advantage. They grabbed the backpack, dehn took away my phone; di police bwai dehn deh exactly from weh i get robbed from, straight down like wah half block or a block, I could actually see them.  After my ordeal, like I said, I couldn’t even go back to my hotel because they took away all the money I had, they took away my cell phone to call any friends. So after all, I had to stay in the street mien. I had to stay in streets because weh I gwen and I done hurt and I can’t even walk. This morning, some people see me ina di street and give me wah lee money make I could ketch taxi fu come this side because I tell them that I wah report this to the media because I need fi let them know that they can’t be doing this to the people right.”

Cruz says that he is afraid to go to the Profession Standards Branch of the Police Department to make a complaint against the alleged officers.